The Importance of Stochastic Effects for Explaining Entrainment in the Zebrafish Circadian Clock

Figure 5

Stochastic versus deterministic simulations under different light regimes. The first row depicts deterministic oscillations under regular light dark cycles (LD, shown on the left) and constant darkness (DD, shown on the right), respectively. The second row shows individual oscillators that have been subjected to stochastic drift under the same light conditions as column one. The third row plots the average of 1000 stochastic oscillators. It can be seen that while there is very good match under LD conditions, only the stochastic property leads to signal dampening in DD. The black and white boxes at the bottom of the graph indicate lights on (white) and lights off (black). Cry1a mRNA is shown in green dotted line, Cry1a in green solid line, ClockBmal dimer in red line, Per1 mRNA in blue dotted line, and Per1 in blue solid line. Light blue dotted line shows light input/intensity.

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