Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Biological rhythms

Circadian clocks limited by noise

Nature volume 403, pages 267–268 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

Circadian rhythms, which provide internal daily periodicity, are used by a wide range of organisms to anticipate daily changes in the environment1. It seems that these organisms generate circadian periodicity by similar biochemical networks within a single cell2. A model based on the common features of these biochemical networks shows that a circadian network can oscillate reliably in the presence of stochastic biochemical noise and when cellular conditions are altered. We propose that the ability to resist such perturbations imposes strict constraints on the oscillation mechanisms underlying circadian periodicity in vivo.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The hysteresis-based oscillation mechanism.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Edmund, L.N. Cellular and Molecular Basis of Biological Clocks (Springer, New York, 1988).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  2. Dunlap, J. Cell 96, 271–290 (1999).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Suri, V., Lanjuin, A. & Rosbash, M. EMBO J. 18, 675–686 (1999).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Goldbeter, A. Biochemical Oscillations and Cellular Rhythms (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. Murray, J. D. Mathematical Biology (Springer, Berlin, 1994).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  6. Gillespie, D. T. J. Phys. Chem. 81, 2340–2361 (1977).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Ko, M. S. Bioessays 14, 341 (1992).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. McAdams, H. N. & Arkin, A. Trends. Genet. 15, 65–69 (1999).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Wodicka, L. et al. Nature Biotechnol. 15, 1359–1367 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Leloup, J. C. & Goldbeter, A. J. Biol. Rhythms 13, 70–87 (1998).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Kondo, T. et al. Science 275, 224–227 (1997).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Glossop, N. R. J., Lyons, L. C. & Hardin, P. E. Science 286, 766–768 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Physics and Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, 08544, New Jersey, USA

    Naama Barkai & Stanislas Leibler

Authors
  1. Naama Barkai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Stanislas Leibler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stanislas Leibler.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Barkai, N., Leibler, S. Circadian clocks limited by noise. Nature 403, 267–268 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35002258

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35002258

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing