Day length changes with the seasons in temperate latitudes, affecting the many biological rhythms that entrain to the day/night cycle: we measure these effects on the expression of Arabidopsis clock genes, using RNA and reporter gene readouts, with a new method of phase analysis.Dusk sensitivity is proposed as a simple, natural and general mathematical measure to analyse and manipulate the changing phase of a clock output relative to the change in the day/night cycle.Dusk sensitivity shows how increasing the numbers of feedback loops in the Arabidopsis clock models allows more flexible regulation, consistent with a previously-proposed, general operating principle of biological networks.The Arabidopsis clock genes show flexibility of regulation that is characteristic of a three-loop clock model, validating aspects of the model and the operating principle, but some clock output genes show greater flexibility arising from direct light regulation.

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Micropropagated Choisya, Daphne, Delphinium, Hemerocallis, Hosta, Iris and Photinia were found to adjust the pH of Murashige and Skoog's plant tissue culture medium (initial pH 5.6 or 3.5) to different values depending on the species. When plant growth and rooting rates were determined after plants had been grown on media initially adjusted or buffered to values between 2.6 and 5.7 the different plant species were also found to have distinct pH requirements for optimal growth and/or rooting rates.

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