.............................................................................................................................. iii Yunus Annayev: Characterization of a new circadian clock gene Gm129 ................................ iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ v TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ........................................................................................ viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................................ 1 Circadian Clock ........................................................................................................................... 1 Figure 1.1: Core clock mod ......................................................................................................... 2 Table 1.1 Effect of clock gene mutations on period lenght ........................................................ 3 Figure 1.2 Core clock model summarizing secondary loops of circadian clock regulation. ...... 5 CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................ 8 Gene Model 129 (Gm129) Encodes a Novel Transcriptional Repressor that Modulates Circadian Gene Expression ......................................................................................................... 8 Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 8 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 9