Circadian rhythms persist without transcription in a eukaryote
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.
(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.
(Less)
- 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
-
- pmid:21270895
- scopus:79251539603
- 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}},
}