2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Multiscale models of biological clock mechanisms
| Project/Area Number |
24500368
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Bioinformatics/Life informatics
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| Research Institution | Tohoku University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
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| Keywords | 光同調 / Velocity response curve / 振動子ネットワーク / 位相振動子 / 視交叉上核 / 同期 |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
In order to design a practical strategy for human to adapt against the unnatural environment, modeling is done for dynamics of pacemaker cells (mesoscopic scale) in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the center of circadian clock mechanism, where local synchronization clusters appear. Experimentally in the slice culture of SCN, synchronizing clusters of pacemaker cells are observed in the photo-period dependent manner. This result is reproduced by the discrete and continuous models with the photo-responsive period-modulation mechanisms. As a result, it is clarified that (1)distribution of intrinsic periods of pacemakers, (2)coupling strength between the pacemakers, and (3)deadzone length of photo-responsive function cooperatively determine synchronization properties of the pacemaker population. This knowledge should be a convergent node connecting between the macroscopic (behavioral level) and microscopic (intracellular signaling) processes in the circadian clock mechanisms.
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| Free Research Field |
バイオモデリング論
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