Self-arrangement of cellular circadian rhythms through phase-resetting in plant roots

Abstract

We discovered a striped pattern of gene expression with circadian rhythms in growing plant roots using bioluminescent imaging of gene expression. Our experimental analysis revealed that the stripe wave in the bioluminescent image originated at the root tip and was caused by a continuous phase resetting of circadian oscillations. Some complex stripe waves containing arrhythmic regions were also observed. We succeeded in describing the formation mechanisms of these patterns using a growing phase oscillator network with a phase-resetting boundary condition.