Summary
This review explores how nonvisual photopigments in the inner retina and extraretinal tissues contribute to circadian entrainment across vertebrates and insects, with a focus on Drosophila as a model organism. Understanding these diverse light-input pathways informs how lighting environments can be optimized to effectively synchronize biological clocks in humans and other species.
Key Findings
- Cryptochrome (CRY), a blue-light-sensitive photopigment, functions as the primary circadian photoreceptor directly within clock neurons of Drosophila melanogaster.
- Recent studies show that retinal and extraretinal eyes transfer light information to nearly all clock neurons in Drosophila, making the eyes as important for entrainment as in other insects and animals.
- Light entrainment mechanisms vary across species, with extraretinal photoreceptors contributing to different degrees depending on the organism.
Categories
The Science of Light: Examines nonvisual photopigments and photoreceptor biology involved in circadian entrainment across vertebrate species.
Sleep & Circadian Health: Discusses how light entrains circadian clocks via retinal and extraretinal photoreceptors, relevant to understanding light-dark cycle mechanisms.
Author(s)
ME Guido
Publication Year
2020
Related Publications
The Science of Light
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- Color appearance models
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- Diminished pupillary light reflex at high irradiances in melanopsin-knockout mice
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice
Sleep & Circadian Health
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- The twoāprocess model of sleep regulation: a reappraisal
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice
- Strange vision: ganglion cells as circadian photoreceptors