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The circadian activity rhythm is reset by nanowatt pulses of ultraviolet light.

ABSTRACT: The circadian pacemaker synchronizes to the Earth's rotation by tracking step-by-step changes in illumination that occur as the sun passes the horizon. While twilight progressions of irradiance and colour are considered important stimuli in this process, comparably less thought has been given to the possibility that ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation might actually play a more formative role given its evolutionary significance in shaping 24 h timekeeping. Here, we show that Drosophila activity rhythms can be phase-shifted by UVA light at an energy range seated well below that of the visible spectrum. Because the energy threshold for this resetting matches the incident amount of UVA on the human retina at twilight, our results suggest that UVA light has the potential to function as a similar time cue in people.

SUBMITTER: Negelspach DC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6111179 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The circadian activity rhythm is reset by nanowatt pulses of ultraviolet light.

Negelspach David C DC Kaladchibachi Sevag S Fernandez Fabian F

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20180801 1884

The circadian pacemaker synchronizes to the Earth's rotation by tracking step-by-step changes in illumination that occur as the sun passes the horizon. While twilight progressions of irradiance and colour are considered important stimuli in this process, comparably less thought has been given to the possibility that ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation might actually play a more formative role given its evolutionary significance in shaping 24 h timekeeping. Here, we show that <i>Drosophila</i> activity ...[more]

PMID: 30068685

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Project description:The circadian rhythm, called Process C, regulates a wide range of biological processes in humans including sleep, metabolism, body temperature, and hormone secretion. Light is the dominant synchronizer of the circadian rhythm-it has been used to regulate the circadian phase to cope with jet-lag, shift work, and sleep disorder. The homeostatic oscillation of the sleep drive is called Process S. Process C and Process S together determine the sleep-wake cycle in what is known as the two-process model. This paper addresses the regulation of both Process C and Process S by scheduling light exposure and sleep based on numerical simulations of circadian rhythm and sleep mathematical models. This is a significant step beyond the existing literature that only considers the entrainment of Process C. Regulation of the two-process model poses several unique features and challenges: 1. Process S is non-smooth, i.e., the homeostatic dynamics are different in the sleep and wake regimes; 2. Light only indirectly affects Process S through Process C; 3. Light does not affect Process C during sleep. We consider two scenarios: optimizing light intensity as the control input with spontaneous (i.e., unscheduled) sleep/wake times and jointly optimizing the light intensity and the sleep/wake times, which allows limited delayed sleep and early waking as part of the decision variables. We solve the time-optimal entrainment problem for the two-process model for both scenarios using an extension of the gradient descent algorithm to non-smooth systems. To illustrate the efficacy of our time-optimal entrainment strategies, we consider two common use cases: transmeridian travelers and shift workers. For transmeridian travelers, joint optimization of the two-process model avoids the unrealistic long wake duration when only Process C is considered. The entrainment time also decreases when both the light input and the sleep schedule are optimized compared to when only the light input is optimized. For shift workers, we show that the entrainment time is significantly shortened by optimizing the night shift working light.

Project description:The circadian rhythm of gut microbiota is an important biological rhythm that plays a crucial role in host health. However, few studies have determined the associations between the circadian rhythm and gut microbiota in laying hens. The present experiment investigated the circadian rhythm of fecal microbiota in laying hens. Feces samples were collected from 10 laying hens at nine different time points (06:00-12:00-18:00-00:00-06:00-12:00-18:00-00:00-06:00) to demonstrate the circadian rhythm of fecal microbiota. The results showed that the α and β diversity of the fecal microbiota fluctuated significantly at different time points. Beta nearest taxon index analysis suggested that assembly strategies of the abundant and rare amplicon sequence variant (ASV) sub-communities were different. Abundant ASVs preferred dispersal limitation (weak selection), and rare ASVs were randomly formed due to the "non-dominant" fractions. Highly robust fluctuations of fecal microbiota at the phylum level were found. For example, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria fluctuated inversely to each other, but the total ratio remained in a dynamic balance over 48 h. We identified that temporal dynamic changes had a significant effect on the relative abundance of the important bacteria in the feces microbial community using the random forest algorithm. Eight bacteria, Ruminococcus gnavus, Faecalibacterium, Ruminococcaceae, Enterococcus cecorum, Lachnospiraceae, Clostridium, Clostridiales, and Megamonas, showed significant changes over time. One unexpected finding was the fact that these eight bacteria belong to Firmicutes. The pathways showed significant fluctuation, including xenobiotic biodegradation and metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, and amino acid metabolism, which were consistent with the metabolic functions of amino acids and carbohydrates from the feed. This study showed that the defecation time may be an important factor in the diversity, proportion, and functions of the feces microbial community. However, there was no circadian rhythm of microbial community assembly confirmed by JTK_Cycle analysis. These results might suggest there was no obvious circadian rhythm of fecal microbiota in laying hens under common light.

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The circadian activity rhythm is reset by nanowatt pulses of ultraviolet light.

Publications

The circadian activity rhythm is reset by nanowatt pulses of ultraviolet light.

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