Astakine 2--the dark knight linking melatonin to circadian regulation in crustaceans.

ABSTRACT: Daily, circadian rhythms influence essentially all living organisms and affect many physiological processes from sleep and nutrition to immunity. This ability to respond to environmental daily rhythms has been conserved along evolution, and it is found among species from bacteria to mammals. The hematopoietic process of the crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus is under circadian control and is tightly regulated by astakines, a new family of cytokines sharing a prokineticin (PROK) domain. The expression of AST1 and AST2 are light-dependent, and this suggests an evolutionarily conserved function for PROK domain proteins in mediating circadian rhythms. Vertebrate PROKs are transmitters of circadian rhythms of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the brain of mammals, but the mechanism by which t

SUBMITTER: Watthanasurorot A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3605217 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature