Genética molecular dos ritmos circadianos em insetos vetores

The majority of living organisms present an endogenous pacemaker, known as the circadian clock, responsible for driving rhythmic oscillations in their physiology and behaviour with a period of approximately 24 hours. In insects, the genetic bases of this mechanism have been elucidated in the model species Drosophila melanogaster. However, in insect vectors little is known about it despite the importance of their daily rhythms of activity and blood-feeding for the dynamics of pathogen transmission. We reviewed some of the published papers on the molecular genetics of circadian rhythms in insect vectors