Cryptochrome (CRY) proteins play an essential role in regulating mammalian circadian rhythms. CRY is composed of a structured N-terminal domain known as the photolyase homology region (PHR), which is tethered to an intrinsically disordered C-terminal tail. The PHR domain is a critical hub for binding other circadian clock components such as CLOCK, BMAL1, PERIOD, or the ubiquitin ligases FBXL3 and FBXL21. While the isolated PHR domain is necessary and sufficient to generate circadian rhythms, removing or modifying the cryptochrome tails modulates the amplitude and/or periodicity of circadian rhythms, suggesting that they play important regulatory roles in the molecular circadian clock. In this commentary, we will discuss how recent studies of these intrinsically disordered tails are helping to establish a general and evolutionarily conserved model for CRY function, where the function of PHR domains is modulated by reversible interactions with their intrinsically disordered tails.

中文翻译：

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隐花色素的尾巴：哺乳动物生物钟内本质上无序的齿轮

隐花色素 (CRY) 蛋白在调节哺乳动物昼夜节律方面发挥着重要作用。CRY 由称为光解酶同源区 (PHR) 的结构化 N 末端结构域组成，该结构域连接到本质上无序的 C 末端尾部。PHR 域是绑定其他生物钟组件（例如 CLOCK、BMAL1、PERIOD 或泛素连接酶 FBXL3 和 FBXL21）的关键枢纽。虽然孤立的 PHR 域对于产生昼夜节律是必要和足够的，但去除或修改隐花色素尾巴会调节昼夜节律的幅度和/或周期性，表明它们在分子生物钟中发挥重要的调节作用。在这篇评论中，