NSF Org:	IOS Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems
Recipient:	UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
Initial Amendment Date:	May 5, 2004
Latest Amendment Date:	May 5, 2004
Award Number:	0408154
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	William E. Zamer IOS  Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems BIO  Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date:	June 1, 2004
End Date:	May 31, 2005 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$12,000.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$12,000.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 2004 = $12,000.00
History of Investigator:	William Bradshaw (Principal Investigator) bradshaw@uoregon.edu Christina Holzapfel (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	University of Oregon Eugene 1776 E 13TH AVE EUGENE OR  US  97403-1905 (541)346-5131
Sponsor Congressional District:	04
Primary Place of Performance:	University of Oregon Eugene 1776 E 13TH AVE EUGENE OR  US  97403-1905
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	04
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	Z3FGN9MF92U2
Parent UEI:	Z3FGN9MF92U2
NSF Program(s):	PHYSIOLOG & STRUCTURAL SYS
Primary Program Source:	app-0104
Program Reference Code(s):	1148, 9179, SMET
Program Element Code(s):	114100
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.074

ABSTRACT

The two major cycles in terrestrial environments are daily and seasonal. Plants and animals use an internal circadian clock to time their daily activities. Many plants, vertebrates, and insects use the length of day (photoperiod) to anticipate the changing seasons and to time their seasonal activities of growth, development, reproduction, flowering, hibernation, or migration accordingly. This research is concerned with the molecular connection between the timing of daily activities (circadian rhythmicity) and seasonal activities (photoperiodism). The strongest environmental cue affecting the timing of both daily and seasonal events is light. Whereas the light-input pathway and molecular basis of circadian rhythmicity are well understood, little is known about the molecular basis of the regulation of seasonal cycles. This research uses the pitcher-plant mosquito, Wyeomyia smithii, to focus on the connection between the mechanisms regulating daily and seasonal cycles by examining the expression and role of the timeless gene, a gene known to be essential for the input of light and the central functioning of the circadian clock in insects and vertebrates. Wyeomyia smithii lives over a broad latitudinal range and, as the length of the growing season changes over this range, so also does the day length used to switch between active summer development and winter dormancy. This divergence of response to day length will be used to determine (1) how the expression patterns of timeless vary with latitude of origin and day length and (2) how polymorphism at the level of DNA varies with latitude of origin and day length. This research is unique in that it will be evaluating not only the connection between the daily and seasonal timing processes, but also show how at the molecular level that connection varies over a gradient of climate through evolutionary time.

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