In search of a biological hour

In search of a biological hour

We focus here on a prominent subset of rhythms within the ultradian domain that have periods between 30 and 240 min as a candidate for a «biological hour.» Smooth histograms produced from reported periods obtained from two surveys of literature display prominent peaks centered near 95 min, with a ra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of plant physiology Vol. 151; no. 3; pp. 352 - 357
Main Authors: Koukkari, Willard L., Bingham, Christopher, Hobbs, Johnna D., Duke, Stanley H.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Jena Elsevier GmbH 1997
Elsevier
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Chronobiology
circumnutation
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Movements
Phaseolus vulgaris L
Plant physiology and development
REM sleep
stress
ultradian rhythms
Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems
stress
non-REM
Exps
ultradian rhythms
circumnutation
REM
Exp
Phaseolus vulgaris L
REM sleep
Human
Irregularity
Periodicity
Environmental factor
Biological rhythm
Wobble
Stress
Bean
Sleep
Leguminosae
Phaseolus vulgaris
Dicotyledones
Ultradian rhythm
Angiospermae
Spermatophyta
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Summary:We focus here on a prominent subset of rhythms within the ultradian domain that have periods between 30 and 240 min as a candidate for a «biological hour.» Smooth histograms produced from reported periods obtained from two surveys of literature display prominent peaks centered near 95 min, with a range from about 50 to 130 min. The list of variables having these periodicities is extensive and diverse (e.g., circumnutation movements of plants and the REM/non-REM sleep cycle of human beings). The periodicity displayed by many of these examples is somewhat irregular, perhaps because of other changing biological components and/or environmental factors such as stress. For example, results from our experiments showed that when Phaseolm vulgaris L. shoots were subjected to stress caused by staking, the ultradian periodicity of circumnutation was initially lengthened and later restored to its «normal» length.
ISSN:0176-1617
1618-1328
DOI:10.1016/S0176-1617(97)80264-7