The molecular basis of metabolic cycles and their relationship to circadian rhythms

Metabolic cycles result from the partitioning of oxidative and reductive metabolism into rhythmic phases of gene expression and oscillating post-translational modifications to proteins. Relatively little is understood about how the switches in gene expression are controlled during a metabolic cycle, although recent studies have suggested a central role for transcription itself, via extensive transcriptional interference involving non-coding transcription, in rhythmically switching genes on and off. This review explores the molecular basis of the metabolic and gene expression oscillations in the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and how they relate to other biological time keeping mechanisms such as circadian rhythms