The cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus coordinates its physiology with the circadian cycle by oscillating transcript levels with twenty-four hour period. These oscillations in gene expression continue in the absence of light/dark stimulus, suggesting that S. elongatus has evolved its own time keeping device. Although it is now clear that a three protein post-translational oscillator acts as an internal clock, the mechanism and extent to which this core clock transmits information to promoters is unknown.
I am interested in answering how and why S. elongatus controls gene expression in circadian fashion by characterizing transcription via tiling microarrays. By describing the transcriptome of S. elongatus, we hope to better understand the physiological significance and mechanism underlying circadian gene expression.
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