Macromolecular Assemblies of the Mammalian Circadian Clock.

ABSTRACT: The mammalian circadian clock is built on a feedback loop in which PER and CRY proteins repress their own transcription. We found that in mouse liver nuclei all three PERs, both CRYs, and Casein Kinase-1? (CK1?) are present together in an ?1.9-MDa repressor assembly that quantitatively incorporates its CLOCK-BMAL1 transcription factor target. Prior to incorporation, CLOCK-BMAL1 exists in an ?750-kDa complex. Single-particle electron microscopy (EM) revealed nuclear PER complexes purified from mouse liver to be quasi-spherical ?40-nm structures. In the cytoplasm, PERs, CRYs, and CK1? were distributed into several complexes of ?0.9-1.1 MDa that appear to constitute an assembly pathway regulated by GAPVD1, a cytoplasmic trafficking factor. Single-particle EM of two purified cytoplasmic PER complexes revealed ?20-nm and ?25-nm structures, respectively, characterized by flexibly tethered globular domains. Our results define the macromolecular assemblies comprising the circadian feedback loop and provide an initial structural view of endogenous eukaryotic clock machinery.

SUBMITTER: Aryal RP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5679067 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature