A large part of mammalian physiology and behaviour shows regular daily variations. This temporal organisation is driven by the activity of an endogenous circadian clock, whose molecular basis consists of diurnal waves in gene expression. Circadian transcription is the major driver of these rhythms, yet post-transcriptional mechanisms, some of which occur in response to systemic cues and in a tissue-specific fashion, have central roles in ultimately establishing the oscillatory gene expression programme as well. Regulatory control that occurs at the level of translation is emerging as an important player in the generation and modulation of protein accumulation rhythms. As a mechanism, translation lies at a privileged position to integrate genetically encoded rhythmic signals with other, external and internal stimuli, including nutrient-derived cues. In this review, we summarise our current knowledge of how diurnal control of translation affects both bulk protein levels and gene-specific protein biosynthesis. We discuss mechanisms of regulation, in particular with regard to the complex interplay between circadian cycles and feeding/fasting cycles, as well as emerging roles for upstream open reading frames (uORFs) in clock control. cyanobacterial clocks can operate in the absence of any transcription at all and that self-sustained rhythmic phosphorylation of the essential clock component KaiC even occurs in vitro using recom-2 binant clock proteins and ATP [4]. Transcription-independent molecular rhythms have also been observed in human erythrocytes. In these naturally nucleus-free cells, antioxidant proteins known as peroxiredoxins undergo changes in their redox status, which show self-sustained, entrainable, and 35 temperature-compensated 24-hour periodicity in the absence of transcription and translation [5]. In the wake of such surprising discoveries (and as a consequence of the technical advances made in the fields of high-throughput nucleic acid sequencing and proteomics), the longstanding concept which places daily changes in transcriptional activity at the heart of rhythmic gene expression was revisited as well. A more nuanced picture has arisen that accords a significant role to post-transcriptional 40 mechanisms in the generation of rhythmic clock outputs in mammals. Furthermore, it has become clear that a significant proportion of RNA and protein oscillations is not necessarily a direct output of the local, cellular clock, but rather driven by systemic cues, in particular by signals related to feeding.This review aims at presenting and discussing our current knowledge of how one of the implicated 45 post-transcriptional mechanism, i.e. translation, can generate, modulate, and sustain circadian rhythms. Our main focus will lie on the mammalian circadian system. Before we delve into the details, however, we shall take this opportunity for a brief digression into findings from two of the more exotic organisms that have been used in circadian clock research, namely green algae and marine dinoflagellates. It i...