Many animals including ourselves follow a 24 hours cycle of gene expression. It aligns with daytime and nighttime cycles and allows most animals to specialize certain tasks at certain times of day; hunting at night, waking at dawn, etc. A new study in current biology discusses the black chafer beetle, and it's odd 48-hour rhythm.
These beetles hide in ground during daytime and emerge at night, but only every other night when they search for food and a mate. This schedule was found to be driven by both sexes through a complimentary mechanism. Every 48 hours the females have a boost in pheromone production. By observing the male beetles RNA, it was possible to discover that production of an odor receptor compatible with this pheromone also spikes every 48 hours.
It is interesting to know this is the only example of a "double-time" circadian rhythm in an animal that we've observed thus far. Although this does not compare to the 17 year hibernation of some cicaida's.
https://biology.ucdavis.edu/news/beetle-date-night-comes-every-other-day#:~:text=A%20new%20study%2C%20published%20Jan,release%20pheromones%20to%20attract%20males.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/unraveling-the-secrets-of-this-weird-beetles-48-hour-clock/
Posted by Michael Breslin
Thank you for sharing this Michael, I found it very interesting! I suppose I never considered the circadian rhythm of other organisms, let alone that they could operate outside of a 24 hour cycle. Very cool :)!
ReplyDeletePrior to your post I had never thought about the circadian rhythm of beetles, I found this very interesting, I am interested to see further analysis on there sleeping patterns as well as the effects that it has on their bodies.
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