Project description:Circadian rhythms are responsive to a variety of external cues, light and metabolism being the most important. In mammals, the light signal is sensed by the retina and transmitted to the SCN master clock, where it is translated into the molecular oscillator via regulation of clock gene transcription. The signalling pathways governing the molecular translation from metabolic signals to circadian output in peripheral oscillators, in contrast, are less understood. FOXO transcription factors are known to translate external metabolic cues to internal transcriptional programs. In the past couple of years it has become evident that both FOXO transcription factors and the circadian clock are of key importance in the underlying mechanisms of ageing and the regulation of metabolism. We now show FOXO3 to be a crucial modulator of circadian rhythmicity via direct transcriptional regulation of Clock, a core component of the molecular oscillator, and identify FOXO3 as a novel link in the circadian feedback loop, which is required for circadian rhythms in liver. We propose that FOXO3 directly feeds back into the circadian oscillator in response to metabolic cues. We performed a microarray study on synchronized NIH 3T3 cells upon transient knock-down of FoxO3 (siO3). Cells were harvested for RNA isolation 24h (time1), 30h(time2), 36h(time3) and 42h(time4) after synchronization. Experimental samples were hybridized against a reference pool of cRNA, which was derived from unsynchronized NIH 3T3 cells. AS controlgroup a scrambled siRNA was transfected. Experiments were performed 4 times, of each sample group two samples were labeled with cy5 and co-hybridized with reference RNA labeled with cy3, and two samples were labeled and hybridized in the opposite way. Microarrays used were Mouse Whole Genome Gene Expression Microarrays V1 (Agilent Technologies, Belgium)
Project description:Circadian rhythms are responsive to a variety of external cues, light and metabolism being the most important. In mammals, the light signal is sensed by the retina and transmitted to the SCN master clock, where it is translated into the molecular oscillator via regulation of clock gene transcription. The signalling pathways governing the molecular translation from metabolic signals to circadian output in peripheral oscillators, in contrast, are less understood. FOXO transcription factors are known to translate external metabolic cues to internal transcriptional programs. In the past couple of years it has become evident that both FOXO transcription factors and the circadian clock are of key importance in the underlying mechanisms of ageing and the regulation of metabolism. We now show FOXO3 to be a crucial modulator of circadian rhythmicity via direct transcriptional regulation of Clock, a core component of the molecular oscillator, and identify FOXO3 as a novel link in the circadian feedback loop, which is required for circadian rhythms in liver. We propose that FOXO3 directly feeds back into the circadian oscillator in response to metabolic cues.
Project description:Circadian rhythms are responsive to a variety of external cues, light and metabolism being the most important. In mammals, the light signal is sensed by the retina and transmitted to the SCN master clock, where it is translated into the molecular oscillator via regulation of clock gene transcription. The signalling pathways governing the molecular translation from metabolic signals to circadian output in peripheral oscillators, in contrast, are less understood. FOXO transcription factors are known to translate external metabolic cues to internal transcriptional programs. In the past couple of years it has become evident that both FOXO transcription factors and the circadian clock are of key importance in the underlying mechanisms of ageing and the regulation of metabolism. We now show FOXO3 to be a crucial modulator of circadian rhythmicity via direct transcriptional regulation of Clock, a core component of the molecular oscillator, and identify FOXO3 as a novel link in the circadian feedback loop, which is required for circadian rhythms in liver. We propose that FOXO3 directly feeds back into the circadian oscillator in response to metabolic cues. We performed a microarray study on synchronized NIH 3T3 cells upon transient overexpression of FoxO6 (oeO6). Cells were harvested for RNA isolation 24h (time1), 30h(time2), 36h(time3) and 42h(time4) after synchronization. Experimental samples were hybridized against a reference pool of cRNA, which was derived from unsynchronized NIH 3T3 cells. Experiments were performed 4 times, of each sample group two samples were labeled with cy5 and co-hybridized with reference RNA labeled with cy3, and two samples were labeled and hybridized in the opposite way. Microarrays used were Mouse Whole Genome Gene Expression Microarrays V1 (Agilent Technologies, Belgium)
Project description:Circadian rhythms are responsive to a variety of external cues, light and metabolism being the most important. In mammals, the light signal is sensed by the retina and transmitted to the SCN master clock, where it is translated into the molecular oscillator via regulation of clock gene transcription. The signalling pathways governing the molecular translation from metabolic signals to circadian output in peripheral oscillators, in contrast, are less understood. FOXO transcription factors are known to translate external metabolic cues to internal transcriptional programs. In the past couple of years it has become evident that both FOXO transcription factors and the circadian clock are of key importance in the underlying mechanisms of ageing and the regulation of metabolism. We now show FOXO3 to be a crucial modulator of circadian rhythmicity via direct transcriptional regulation of Clock, a core component of the molecular oscillator, and identify FOXO3 as a novel link in the circadian feedback loop, which is required for circadian rhythms in liver. We propose that FOXO3 directly feeds back into the circadian oscillator in response to metabolic cues.
Project description:Many behaviors exhibit ~24-h oscillations under control of an endogenous circadian timing system that tracks time of day via a molecular circadian clock. In the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, most circadian research has focused on the generation of locomotor activity rhythms, but a fundamental question is how the circadian clock orchestrates multiple distinct behavioral outputs. Here, we have investigated the cells and circuits mediating circadian control of feeding behavior. Using an array of genetic tools, we show that, as is the case for locomotor activity rhythms, the presence of feeding rhythms requires molecular clock function in the ventrolateral clock neurons of the central brain. We further demonstrate that the speed of molecular clock oscillations in these neurons dictates the free-running period length of feeding rhythms. In contrast to the effects observed with central clock cell manipulations, we show that genetic abrogation of the molecular clock in the fat body, a peripheral metabolic tissue, is without effect on feeding behavior. Interestingly, we find that molecular clocks in the brain and fat body of control flies gradually grow out of phase with one another under free-running conditions, likely due to a long endogenous period of the fat body clock. Under these conditions, the period of feeding rhythms tracks with molecular oscillations in central brain clock cells, consistent with a primary role of the brain clock in dictating the timing of feeding behavior. Finally, despite a lack of effect of fat body selective manipulations, we find that flies with simultaneous disruption of molecular clocks in multiple peripheral tissues (but with intact central clocks) exhibit decreased feeding rhythm strength and reduced overall food intake. We conclude that both central and peripheral clocks contribute to the regulation of feeding rhythms, with a particularly dominant, pacemaker role for specific populations of central brain clock cells.
Project description:Circadian clocks regulate ∼24-h oscillations in gene expression, behavior, and physiology. While the genetic and molecular mechanisms of circadian rhythms are well characterized, what remains poorly understood are the intracellular dynamics of circadian clock components and how they affect circadian rhythms. Here, we elucidate how spatiotemporal organization and dynamics of core clock proteins and genes affect circadian rhythms in Drosophila clock neurons. Using high-resolution imaging and DNA-fluorescence in situ hybridization techniques, we demonstrate that Drosophila clock proteins (PERIOD and CLOCK) are organized into a few discrete foci at the nuclear envelope during the circadian repression phase and play an important role in the subnuclear localization of core clock genes to control circadian rhythms. Specifically, we show that core clock genes, period and timeless, are positioned close to the nuclear periphery by the PERIOD protein specifically during the repression phase, suggesting that subnuclear localization of core clock genes might play a key role in their rhythmic gene expression. Finally, we show that loss of Lamin B receptor, a nuclear envelope protein, leads to disruption of PER foci and per gene peripheral localization and results in circadian rhythm defects. These results demonstrate that clock proteins play a hitherto unexpected role in the subnuclear reorganization of core clock genes to control circadian rhythms, revealing how clocks function at the subcellular level. Our results further suggest that clock protein foci might regulate dynamic clustering and spatial reorganization of clock-regulated genes over the repression phase to control circadian rhythms in behavior and physiology.
Project description:Both FoxO transcription factors and the circadian clock act on the interface of metabolism and cell cycle regulation and are important regulators of cellular stress and stem cell homeostasis. Importantly, FoxO3 preserves the adult neural stem cell population by regulating cell cycle and cellular metabolism and has been shown to regulate circadian rhythms in the liver. However, whether FoxO3 is a regulator of circadian rhythms in neural stem cells remains unknown. Here, we show that loss of FoxO3 disrupts circadian rhythmicity in cultures of neural stem cells, an effect that is mediated via regulation of Clock transcriptional levels. Using Rev-Erbα-VNP as a reporter, we then demonstrate that loss of FoxO3 does not disrupt circadian rhythmicity at the single cell level. A meta-analysis of published data revealed dynamic co-occupancy of multiple circadian clock components within FoxO3 regulatory regions, indicating that FoxO3 is a Clock-controlled gene. Finally, we examined proliferation in the hippocampus of FoxO3-deficient mice and found that loss of FoxO3 delayed the circadian phase of hippocampal proliferation, indicating that FoxO3 regulates correct timing of NSC proliferation. Taken together, our data suggest that FoxO3 is an integral part of circadian regulation of neural stem cell homeostasis.
Project description:The mechanistic basis of eukaryotic circadian oscillators in model systems as diverse as Neurospora, Drosophila, and mammalian cells is thought to be a transcription-and-translation-based negative feedback loop, wherein progressive and controlled phosphorylation of one or more negative elements ultimately elicits their own proteasome-mediated degradation, thereby releasing negative feedback and determining circadian period length. The Neurospora crassa circadian negative element FREQUENCY (FRQ) exemplifies such proteins; it is progressively phosphorylated at more than 100 sites, and strains bearing alleles of frq with anomalous phosphorylation display abnormal stability of FRQ that is well correlated with altered periods or apparent arrhythmicity. Unexpectedly, we unveiled normal circadian oscillations that reflect the allelic state of frq but that persist in the absence of typical degradation of FRQ. This manifest uncoupling of negative element turnover from circadian period length determination is not consistent with the consensus eukaryotic circadian model.