TIMEOUT, and three other
CRYPTOCHROMES (PCRY, PHR, and CRY DASH; Table 1).
Light is absorbed by plant photoreceptors including phytochromes,
cryptochromes and phototropins (Muneer et al., 2014).
Firstly CLOCK and BMAL1 bind to each other to form a heterodimer that binds with Periods (i.e., Perl, Per2 and PerS) and
Cryptochromes (i.e., Cryl and Cry2) genes [20].
Terao et al., "A role for
cryptochromes in sleep regulation," BMC Neuroscience, vol.
Cryptochromes are blue light receptors linked to a flavin and pterine, and responsible for mediating various plant responses, such as regulation of circadian rhythms, depolarization of membranes, anthocyanins production, and other effects (Yu, Liu, Klejnot, & Lin, 2010).
Yu et al., "
Cryptochromes mediate rhythmic repression of the glucocorticoid receptor," Nature, vol.
Before addressing the main subject, one can concisely outline the diverse roles of
cryptochromes in animals along with the track of related research.
Molecules known as
cryptochromes, found within avian retinas, may be behind birds' uncanny navigational skills (SN: 5/9/09, p.
Terao et al., "A role of
cryptochromes in sleep regulation," BMC Neuroscience, vol.