Molecular genetic analysis of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has revolutionized our understanding of the transcription/translation loop mechanisms underlying the circadian molecular oscillator. More recently, Drosophila has been used to understand how different neuronal groups within the circadian pacemaker circuit interact to regulate the overall behavior of the fly in response to daily cyclic environmental cues as well as seasonal changes. Our present understanding of circadian timekeeping at the molecular and circuit level is discussed with a critical evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of present models. Two models for circadian neural circuits are compared: one that posits that two anatomically distinct oscillators control the synchronization to the two major daily morning and evening transitions, versus a distributed network model that posits that many cell-autonomous oscillators are coordinated in a complex fashion and respond via plastic mechanisms to changes in environmental cues.

中文翻译：

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果蝇昼夜节律起搏器电路：双人舞还是狼蛛？

果蝇 Drosophila melanogaster 的分子遗传分析彻底改变了我们对昼夜节律分子振荡器背后的转录/翻译循环机制的理解。最近，果蝇已被用于了解昼夜节律起搏器回路中的不同神经元组如何相互作用以调节苍蝇的整体行为，以响应日常循环环境线索以及季节性变化。我们目前在分子和电路水平上对昼夜节律计时的理解通过对现有模型的优点和缺点的批判性评估进行了讨论。比较了两种昼夜节律神经回路模型：一种假设两个解剖学上不同的振荡器控制着两个主要的每日早晚转换的同步，