Monotremes have left a poor fossil record, and paleontology has been virtually mute during two decades of discussion about molecular clock estimates of the timing of divergence between the platypus and echidna clades. We describe evidence from high-resolution x-ray computed tomography indicating that Teinolophos, an Early Cretaceous fossil from Australia's Flat Rocks locality (121-112.5 Ma), li...

The gene duplication rate in the yeast genome is estimated without assuming the molecular clock model to be approximately 0.01 to 0.06 per gene per billion years; this rate is two orders of magnitude lower than a previous estimate based on the molecular clock model. This difference is explained by extensive concerted evolution via gene conversion between duplicated genes, which violates the ass...

Evolutionary timescales can be inferred from molecular sequence data using a Bayesian phylogenetic approach. In these methods, the molecular clock is often calibrated using fossil data. The uncertainty in these fossil calibrations is important because it determines the limiting posterior distribution for divergence-time estimates as the sequence length tends to infinity. Here, we investigate ho...

Mitochondrial DNA remains one of the most widely used molecular markers to reconstruct the phylogeny and phylogeography of closely related birds. It has been proposed that bird mitochondrial genomes evolve at a constant rate of ~0.01 substitution per site per million years, that is that they evolve according to a strict molecular clock. This molecular clock is often used in studies of bird mito...

introduction: the utility and discriminatory pattern of the clock face drawing test in adhd is unclear. this study therefore compared clock face drawing test performance in children with adhd and controls. methods: 95 school children with adhd and 191 other children were matched for gender ratio and age. adhd symptoms severities were assessed using dsm-iv adhd checklist and their intellectual f...

KEY POINTS The endogenous molecular clock in skeletal muscle is necessary for maintenance of phenotype and function. Loss of Bmal1 solely from adult skeletal muscle (iMSBmal1(-/-) ) results in reductions in specific tension, increased oxidative fibre type and increased muscle fibrosis with no change in feeding or activity. Disruption of the molecular clock in adult skeletal muscle is sufficient...

Elucidation of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of the circadian clock, along with the realization that these mechanisms are operative in both central and peripheral tissues, has revolutionized circadian biology. Further, these observations have resulted in an explosion of interest in the health implications of circadian organization and disorganization at both molecular and physiological ...

Entrainment of the Drosophila circadian clock to light involves the light-induced degradation of the clock protein timeless (TIM). We show here that this entrainment mechanism is inhibited by serotonin, acting through the Drosophila serotonin receptor 1B (d5-HT1B). d5-HT1B is expressed in clock neurons, and alterations of its levels affect molecular and behavioral responses of the clock to ligh...

We have directly monitored spin level anti-crossings, or “clock transitions”, in Ni(ii) molecular monomers and shown that the quantum tunnelling gap admits a chemical tuning.

Circadian rhythms are responsive to external and internal cues, light and metabolism being among the most important. In mammals, the light signal is sensed by the retina and transmitted to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) master clock [1], where it is integrated into the molecular oscillator via regulation of clock gene transcription. The SCN synchronizes peripheral oscillators, an effect that...