Network Dynamics Mediate Circadian Clock Plasticity.

ABSTRACT: A circadian clock governs most aspects of mammalian behavior. Although its properties are in part genetically determined, altered light-dark environment can change circadian period length through a mechanism requiring de novo DNA methylation. We show here that this mechanism is mediated not via cell-autonomous clock properties, but rather through altered networking within the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), the circadian "master clock," which is DNA methylated in region-specific manner. DNA methylation is necessary to temporally reorganize circadian phasing among SCN neurons, which in turn changes the period length of the network as a whole. Interruption of neural communication by inhibiting neuronal firing or by physical cutting suppresses both SCN reorganization and period changes. Mathema

SUBMITTER: Azzi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5247339 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature