D.P. King, Y.L. Zhao, A.M. Sangoram, L.D. Wilsbacher, M. Tanaka, M.P. Antoch, T.D.L. Steeves, M.H. Vitaterna, J.M. Kornhauser, P.L. Lowrey, F.W. Turek, J.S. Takahashi, "Positional cloning of the mouse circadian Clock gene," Cell, 89:641-53, May 16, 1997. (Cited in more than 160 papers since publication)

Comments by Joseph S. Takahashi, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and professor of neurobiology and physiology at Northwestern University

This paper proved to be as significant for the method researchers employed as for the discovery that resulted from their efforts. By cloning the Clock gene in mice, Northwestern University investigators helped trigger an explosion of findings on the genetics of circadian rhythms--the physiological 24-hour cycles in plants and animals that are regulated both internally and via external cues. By using forward genetics to do so, they helped introduce a new approach to doing genetics in mammals. Researchers typically perform knockout mutations on...

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