Investigating Circadian Outputs of the Caenorhabditis elegans Transcriptome

Circadian rhythms can be observed across phyla and are interlinked with many aspects of health, disease and survival. A partially-conserved genetic basis for the generation of circadian rhythms has been well-characterised in common laboratory models: mouse (Mus musculus), fly (Drosophila melanogaster) and zebrafish (Danio rerio). In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans however, the molecular basis of circadian rhythms remains poorly understood. This is despite reports of circadian rhythms in C. elegans behaviour, physiology and gene expression. The work described here focused on detecting and characterising gene expression rhythms in C. elegans to advance understanding of the molecular clock.