Glia: Glia get rhythmic.

摘要

Flies have been used to study the molecular basis oF circadian behaviours since the early 1970s, and many genes that govern daily rhythms in Drosophila melanogaster, such as period (per), have been shown to be conserved in humans. The D. melanogasler brain contains populations of clock neurons that regulate dawn and dusk bouts of locomotor activity. In Current Biology, Jackson and colleagues now show that astrocytes have a key role in the regulation of this circadian behaviour.The authors expressed a bacterial sodium channel in adult glial cells to disrupt the cells' ionic gradient and, hence, their function. Expression of the sodium channels was temperature sensitive to avoid potential developmental effects.