USE OF A MULTIOSCILLATOR SYSTEM TO SIMULATE EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS OBTAINED FOR THE PERIOD-MUTANTS OF DROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTER

We propose a multioscillator model which includes as a novelly the pre sence of neutral elements, the physiological correlate of which may be glial cells. The neutral elements do not exhibit selfsustained oscill ations but follow and influence the circadian fluctuations of the osci llators in their neighbourhood. We are able to simulate the different circadian behaviours of the period-mutants and the wildtype of Drosoph ila melanogaster by changing the number or weight of the neutral eleme nts that interfere with the oscillators.