Circadian rhythms persist without transcription in a eukaryote
(2011) In Nature 469(7331). p.554-558- Abstract
Circadian rhythms are ubiquitous in eukaryotes, and coordinate numerous aspects of behaviour, physiology and metabolism, from sleep/wake cycles in mammals to growth and photosynthesis in plants. This daily timekeeping is thought to be driven by transcriptionaltranslational feedback loops, whereby rhythmic expression of clock- gene products regulates the expression of associated genes in approximately 24-hour cycles. The specific transcriptional components differ between phylogenetic kingdoms. The unicellular pico-eukaryotic alga Ostreococcus tauri possesses a naturally minimized clock, which includes many features that are shared with plants, such as a central negative feedback loop that involves the morning-expressed CCA1 and... (More)
Circadian rhythms are ubiquitous in eukaryotes, and coordinate numerous aspects of behaviour, physiology and metabolism, from sleep/wake cycles in mammals to growth and photosynthesis in plants. This daily timekeeping is thought to be driven by transcriptionaltranslational feedback loops, whereby rhythmic expression of clock- gene products regulates the expression of associated genes in approximately 24-hour cycles. The specific transcriptional components differ between phylogenetic kingdoms. The unicellular pico-eukaryotic alga Ostreococcus tauri possesses a naturally minimized clock, which includes many features that are shared with plants, such as a central negative feedback loop that involves the morning-expressed CCA1 and evening-expressed TOC1 genes. Given that recent observations in animals and plants have revealed prominent post-translational contributions to timekeeping, a reappraisal of the transcriptional contribution to oscillator function is overdue. Here we show that non-transcriptional mechanisms are sufficient to sustain circadian timekeeping in the eukaryotic lineage, although they normally function in conjunction with transcriptional components. We identify oxidation of peroxiredoxin proteins as a transcription-independent rhythmic biomarker, which is also rhythmic in mammals. Moreover we show that pharmacological modulators of the mammalian clock mechanism have the same effects on rhythms in Ostreococcus. Post-translational mechanisms, and at least one rhythmic marker, seem to be better conserved than transcriptional clock regulators. It is plausible that the oldest oscillator components are non-transcriptional in nature, as in cyanobacteria, and are conserved across kingdoms.
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- author
- O'Neill, John S. ; Van Ooijen, Gerben ; Dixon, Laura E. ; Troein, Carl LU ; Corellou, Florence ; Bouget, François-Yves ; Reddy, Akhilesh B. and Millar, Andrew J.
- publishing date
- 2011-01-27
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Nature
- volume
- 469
- issue
- 7331
- pages
- 5 pages
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:79251539603
- pmid:21270895
- ISSN
- 0028-0836
- DOI
- 10.1038/nature09654
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 122eaaa7-f741-4e96-82bf-ce73e69170e9
- date added to LUP
- 2019-05-21 10:28:01
- date last changed
- 2024-09-17 21:34:47
@article{122eaaa7-f741-4e96-82bf-ce73e69170e9, abstract = {{<p>Circadian rhythms are ubiquitous in eukaryotes, and coordinate numerous aspects of behaviour, physiology and metabolism, from sleep/wake cycles in mammals to growth and photosynthesis in plants. This daily timekeeping is thought to be driven by transcriptionaltranslational feedback loops, whereby rhythmic expression of clock- gene products regulates the expression of associated genes in approximately 24-hour cycles. The specific transcriptional components differ between phylogenetic kingdoms. The unicellular pico-eukaryotic alga Ostreococcus tauri possesses a naturally minimized clock, which includes many features that are shared with plants, such as a central negative feedback loop that involves the morning-expressed CCA1 and evening-expressed TOC1 genes. Given that recent observations in animals and plants have revealed prominent post-translational contributions to timekeeping, a reappraisal of the transcriptional contribution to oscillator function is overdue. Here we show that non-transcriptional mechanisms are sufficient to sustain circadian timekeeping in the eukaryotic lineage, although they normally function in conjunction with transcriptional components. We identify oxidation of peroxiredoxin proteins as a transcription-independent rhythmic biomarker, which is also rhythmic in mammals. Moreover we show that pharmacological modulators of the mammalian clock mechanism have the same effects on rhythms in Ostreococcus. Post-translational mechanisms, and at least one rhythmic marker, seem to be better conserved than transcriptional clock regulators. It is plausible that the oldest oscillator components are non-transcriptional in nature, as in cyanobacteria, and are conserved across kingdoms.</p>}}, author = {{O'Neill, John S. and Van Ooijen, Gerben and Dixon, Laura E. and Troein, Carl and Corellou, Florence and Bouget, François-Yves and Reddy, Akhilesh B. and Millar, Andrew J.}}, issn = {{0028-0836}}, language = {{eng}}, month = {{01}}, number = {{7331}}, pages = {{554--558}}, publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}}, series = {{Nature}}, title = {{Circadian rhythms persist without transcription in a eukaryote}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature09654}}, doi = {{10.1038/nature09654}}, volume = {{469}}, year = {{2011}}, }