Research Progress in Circadian Clock Genes of Animals

The circadian clock is a self-sustaining oscillator with a period of about 24 hour that includes input, central oscillator and output. The circadian clock mechanism has been studied extensively at the molecular level and sev- eral clock-related genes have been identified. The clock genes and the coded protein comprise the self-sustaining feedback loop that can regulate both on the transcriptional and on the translational level. This article introduced the clock genes and their mutants found in fly and mouse and the effects of mutants on the circadian clock. The significance of the circadian clock regulation mechanism research in genetics was also prospected.