An evolutionary fitness enhancement conferred by the circadian system in cyanobacteria

Peijun Ma, Mark A. Woelfle and Carl Hirschie Johnson

Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, 2013, vol. 50, issue C, 65-74

Abstract: Circadian clocks are found in a wide variety of organisms from cyanobacteria to mammals. Many believe that the circadian clock system evolved as an adaption to the daily cycles in light and temperature driven by the rotation of the earth. Studies on the cyanobacterium, Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, have confirmed that the circadian clock in resonance with environmental cycles confers an adaptive advantage to cyanobacterial strains with different clock properties when grown in competition under light–dark cycles. The results thus far suggest that in a cyclic environment, the cyanobacterial strains whose free running periods are closest to the environmental period are the most fit and the strains lacking a functional circadian clock are at a competitive disadvantage relative to strains with a functional clock. In contrast, the circadian system provides little or no advantage to cyanobacteria grown in competition in constant light.

Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:chsofr:v:50:y:2013:i:c:p:65-74

DOI: 10.1016/j.chaos.2012.11.006

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