Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9823-4370
Date Available
12-23-2024
Year of Publication
2024
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
College
Arts and Sciences
Department/School/Program
Biology
Advisor
Dr. Vincent Cassone
Abstract
The temporal organization of biological activities through circadian rhythms is pivotal for the survival of organisms. Significant progress has been made in understanding the molecular foundations of animal circadian clocks through the characterization of key components such as Clock, Bmal1/Cycle(Cyc), Period (Per), Timeless, and Cryptochrome (Cry) in several model organisms. To determine the universality of this conservation, we investigated the sequences of these genes and their paralogs across 46 animal species that encompass multiple phyla in the metazoan kingdom to resolve the relative timing of duplication and loss events that have diversified core clock components in the metazoan kingdom. Using orthology and protein-protein binding prediction analyses, we identified and characterized these elements in diverse animal species. Based on these analyses, we propose a circadian molecular mechanism employed by the ancestor of all animals. We also identify derived losses and expansions of circadian elements in smaller animal clades and provide insight into the evolutionary pressures faced by their ancestors to change such an important piece of internal machinery. Our study prompts a deeper understanding of early animals through the molecular mechanisms that facilitated their survival and how one such mechanism has endured and adapted to regulate the internal clocks of nearly all extant animals.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2024.520
Funding Information
Jack and Linda Gill Professorship to Vincent M Cassone
Recommended Citation
Waldridge, Olivia, "THE EVOLUTION OF THE METAZOAN CIRCADIAN MOLECULAR MECHANISM AND THE CONSERVATION OF CANONICAL CIRCADIAN ELEMENTS" (2024). Theses and Dissertations--Biology. 111.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/biology_etds/111
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