OSCR

Brain circadian clock neurons drive fitness advantages in <i>Drosophila</i>.

Overview

Authors: Sae Aikawa1, Shoichiro Tamura1, Makiko Mimura1, Taishi Yoshii1
ORCID iDs: Sae Aikawa, Makiko Mimura, Taishi Yoshii
  1. Graduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
Institutions: Okayama University (Japan)
Journal: iScience, volume 29, issue 8, article 117125
Dates: received 12 February 2026; accepted 23 July 2026; published online 10 August 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1016/j.isci.2026.117125 · PMID 42621133 · PMCID PMC13486361 · OpenAlex W7202076521
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: code on request
Categories: drosophila (organism)
Methods: Statistics, Evoked potentials
Keywords: activity rhythms, clock neurons, Drosophila, adaptive advantage, reproductive success, resonance hypothesis
Topic: Circadian rhythm and melatonin (Endocrine and Autonomic Systems, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex
Funding: Okayama University (CFPOU DIA_717); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (24K09534)
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 68 references in the paper
Research resources: Chicken anti-GFP RRID:AB_1537402, RRID:AB_2534096, Alexa Fluor 555 (donkey anti-mouse IgG) RRID:AB_2536180, Mouse anti-PDF RRID:AB_760350, D. melanogaster: 13xLexAop2-mCD8::GFP RRID:BDSC_32203, D. melanogaster: w1118 control strain RRID:BDSC_5905

Abstract

The adaptive significance of circadian clocks is widely assumed due to their ubiquity; yet, direct empirical evidence remains scarce. Evaluating these benefits is often confounded by pleiotropic effects in conventional circadian null mutants. To address this, we selectively altered the circadian period exclusively within brain clock neurons in Drosophila melanogaster. Multi-generational competition assays revealed that flies with aberrant rhythms exhibit a significant fitness disadvantage under standard light-dark (LD 12:12) cycles. This disadvantage was abolished under constant light, confirming that the selection pressure is specifically mediated by the circadian clock. Furthermore, paternity assays conducted under LD 12:12 indicated that the timing of brain clock neurons influences male reproductive success, providing a potential mechanistic link between clock-controlled behavior and fitness. Intriguingly, we found that these fitness costs are highly photoperiod-dependent. Under short-day conditions (LD 8:16), the short-period strain (dbtS) maintained a significantly higher overall frequency than the long-period strain (dbtL). Our behavioral observations suggest that this difference may be associated with the quality of activity rhythms; specifically, dbtS lacked defined morning peaks and showed suppressed nocturnal activity, potentially narrowing its window for reproductive interactions compared to dbtL. These findings illustrate that the circadian system does not merely track a 24-h cycle but functions as a flexible feature that enables flies to cope with changing day lengths by aligning their mating behavior with the most favorable time of day.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper says that its authors' code is available on request: it was not published with the paper, so there is nothing to verify.

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none (its code is available on request), so it has no map.

Data

No dataset and no data link were found in the paper.

Data and code availability

Data reported in this study will be shared by the lead contact upon request. Accession numbers are listed in the key resources table.

This study does not report original code.

Any additional information required to reanalyze the data reported in this article is available from the lead contact upon request.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 4 authors, 6 keywords, 2 funders, 68 references, 6 RRIDs.

Cite

This paper

Aikawa, S., Tamura, S., Mimura, M., & Yoshii, T. (2026). Brain circadian clock neurons drive fitness advantages in <i>Drosophila</i>. iScience, 29(8), 117125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.117125

BibTeX

@article{aikawa2026brain,
author = {Aikawa, Sae and Tamura, Shoichiro and Mimura, Makiko and Yoshii, Taishi},
title = {{Brain circadian clock neurons drive fitness advantages in \<i\>Drosophila\</i\>}},
journal = {iScience},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
volume = {29},
number = {8},
pages = {117125},
publisher = {Elsevier},
issn = {2589-0042},
doi = {10.1016/j.isci.2026.117125},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.117125},
pmid = {42621133},
pmcid = {PMC13486361}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Aikawa, Sae
AU - Tamura, Shoichiro
AU - Mimura, Makiko
AU - Yoshii, Taishi
TI - Brain circadian clock neurons drive fitness advantages in <i>Drosophila</i>
T2 - iScience
J2 - iScience
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/10
VL - 29
IS - 8
SP - 117125
SN - 2589-0042
PB - Elsevier
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2026.117125
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.117125
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

{
"id": "10.1016/j.isci.2026.117125",
"type": "article-journal",
"title": "Brain circadian clock neurons drive fitness advantages in <i>Drosophila</i>",
"container-title": "iScience",
"author": [
{
"family": "Aikawa",
"given": "Sae"
},
{
"family": "Tamura",
"given": "Shoichiro"
},
{
"family": "Mimura",
"given": "Makiko"
},
{
"family": "Yoshii",
"given": "Taishi"
}
],
"container-title-short": "iScience",
"volume": "29",
"issue": "8",
"page": "117125",
"DOI": "10.1016/j.isci.2026.117125",
"PMID": "42621133",
"PMCID": "PMC13486361",
"ISSN": "2589-0042",
"publisher": "Elsevier",
"URL": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.117125",
"language": "en",
"issued": {
"date-parts": [
[
2026,
8,
10
]
]
}
}

Similar papers

The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.

[1] doi:10.1177/07487304261434715 [code]
<i>Drosophila</i> RSK: A Pivotal Regulator of Circadian Plasticity at the Neuronal and Behavioral Level.
Journal: Journal of biological rhythms
In common: drosophila, 10 references
[2] doi:10.3389/fgene.2026.1818975
Clock-related neuropeptides in <i>Acyrthosiphon pisum</i>.
Journal: Frontiers in genetics
In common: drosophila, 5 references
[3] doi:10.7554/elife.103359
Circadian control of a sex-specific behavior in <i>Drosophila</i>.
Journal: eLife
In common: drosophila, 5 references
[4] doi:10.1016/j.isci.2026.116252
Ion transport peptide regulates larval body water balance via a receptor guanylyl cyclase in <i>Drosophila</i>.
Journal: iScience
In common: drosophila, author Taishi Yoshii
[5] doi:10.1242/jcs.264529
Increased Glycine-N-methyltransferase expression disrupts light-dependent gene expression rhythms in the Drosophila eye.
Journal: Journal of cell science
In common: drosophila, 2 references
[6] doi:10.1073/pnas.2619143123
Cell-type-specific circadian and light-responsive transcriptional dynamics in adult <i>Drosophila</i> neurons.
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
In common: drosophila, 2 references
[7] doi:10.1073/pnas.2527236123
Cellular circadian period and its deviation associate with Alzheimer's pathology and brain aging in cognitively impaired older adults.
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
In common: 2 references
[8] doi:10.1172/jci193475
Conserved sleep disturbances in FOXP1 syndrome originate from developmental dysregulation of peptidergic signaling.
Journal: The Journal of clinical investigation
In common: drosophila, 1 reference
[9] doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10735-w [code]
Distributed control circuits across a brain-and-cord connectome.
Journal: Nature
In common: drosophila, 1 reference
[10] doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1012260
Hippo signaling regulates cuticle pigmentation and dopamine metabolism in Drosophila.
Journal: PLoS genetics
In common: drosophila, 1 reference

Contribute

The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.

Sign in with ORCID to claim this paper as one of its authors, correct its record or validate its tracing map: when the paper's metadata lists your ORCID iD, you are recognized at once. Maintainers of its code: sign in with GitHub, then claim the repository on your account page.

Request its removal

To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).

Discussion, reproductions, activity

Discussion: questions and error reports about this paper and its code, from signed-in readers and its authors. It opens with sign-in.

Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code: what they reproduced, with which environment, commit and data. It opens with sign-in.

Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.