BIOLOGICAL CLOCK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does biological clock mean? 

• BIOLOGICAL CLOCK (noun)
  The noun BIOLOGICAL CLOCK has 1 sense:

1. an innate mechanism in living organisms that controls the periodicity of many physiological functions

  Familiarity information: BIOLOGICAL CLOCK used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BIOLOGICAL CLOCK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An innate mechanism in living organisms that controls the periodicity of many physiological functions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("biological clock" is a kind of...):

mechanism (a natural object resembling a machine in structure or function)

 Context examples 

Ubiquitination regulates protein degradation, chromatin remodeling, cell cycle progression, differentiation, gene expression, stress response, ribosome biogenesis, antigen presentation, apoptosis, signal transduction, transcriptional activation, biological clocks, receptor down regulation, and endocytosis.

(E3 Ubiquitin Ligase, NCI Thesaurus)

Ubiquitination and deubiquitination enzymes participate in highly regulated protein degradation, chromatin remodeling, heat shock, cell cycle progression, differentiation, antigen presentation, apoptosis, signal transduction, transcriptional activation, biological clocks, receptor down regulation, and endocytosis.

(Deubiquitinating Enzyme, NCI Thesaurus)

Scientists have known for some time that, in addition to our biological clocks, genes play a key role in sleep and that sleep patterns can vary widely.

(Researchers explore complex genetic network behind sleep duration, National Institutes of Health)