Abstract PL06-02: The clock in the cell

The circadian clock is an endogenous, cell-based timing mechanism. It has apparently evolved as a response to the highly predictable and metabolically challenging light/dark cycle. Circadian clocks are characterized as having a free running, circa 24h rhythm in constant conditions, an entrainment mechanism whereby those rhythms become exactly 24h, robustness, precision and compensation towards environmental variability such as temperature. While most of our knowledge concerning molecular mechanisms of the daily clock comes from the free running state, the clock is always found in the entrained state in nature. It is this process, the biological oscillator finds its unique phase relationship with the environmental cycle, that leading to temporal compartmentation of various functions and activities. The clock controls gene expression, metabolism, physiology and complex behaviors by organizing them to specific times of day. Working ‘against the clock’ (e.g. in shift work) has been associated with increased incidence of cancers. I will review the molecular and genetic mechanisms that might be involved in this process.Citation Format: Martha Merrow. The clock in the cell. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2014 Sep 27-Oct 1; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2015;8(10 Suppl): Abstract nr PL06-02.
Source: Cancer Prevention Research - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Other Risk Factors: Oral Presentations - Invited Abstracts Source Type: research