Circadian clock and photoperiodic response in Arabidopsis: from seasonal flowering to redox homeostasis.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Shim JS
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4303289 | biostudies-other | 2015 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:Flowering of Arabidopsis is promoted by long days and delayed by short days. Mutations in the GIGANTEA (GI) gene delay flowering under long days but have little or no effect under short days. We have now isolated the GI gene and show that it encodes a novel, putative membrane protein. By comparing the sequence of the Arabidopsis gene with that of a likely rice orthologue and by sequencing mutant alleles, we identify regions of the GI protein that are likely to be important for its function. We show that GI expression is regulated by the circadian clock with a peak in transcript levels 8-10 h after dawn. The timing, height and duration of this peak are influenced by daylength. We analysed the interactions between GI and the LHY, CCA1 and ELF3 genes, previously shown to affect daylength responses; we show that the rhythmic pattern of GI expression is altered in the elf3, CCA1-OX and lhy genotypes, and that CCA1 and LHY expression are reduced by gi mutations. Our results are consistent with the idea that GI plays an important role in regulating the expression of flowering time genes during the promotion of flowering by photoperiod.
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Project description:In mammals, light information received by the eyes is transmitted to the pineal gland via the circadian pacemaker, i.e., the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Melatonin secreted by the pineal gland at night decodes night length and regulates seasonal physiology and behavior. Melatonin regulates the expression of the ?-subunit of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH; Tshb) in the pars tuberalis (PT) of the pituitary gland. Long day-induced PT TSH acts on ependymal cells in the mediobasal hypothalamus to induce the expression of type 2 deiodinase (Dio2) and reduce type 3 deiodinase (Dio3) that are thyroid hormone-activating and hormone-inactivating enzymes, respectively. The long day-activated thyroid hormone T3 regulates seasonal gonadotropin-releasing hormone secretion. It is well established that the circadian clock is involved in the regulation of photoperiodism. However, the involvement of the circadian clock gene in photoperiodism regulation remains unclear. Although mice are generally considered non-seasonal animals, it was recently demonstrated that mice are a good model for the study of photoperiodism. In the present study, therefore, we examined the effect of changing day length in Per2 deletion mutant mice that show shorter wheel-running rhythms under constant darkness followed by arhythmicity. Although the amplitude of clock gene (Per1, Cry1) expression was greatly attenuated in the SCN, the expression profile of arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase, a rate-limiting melatonin synthesis enzyme, was unaffected in the pineal gland, and robust photoperiodic responses of the Tshb, Dio2, and Dio3 genes were observed. These results suggested that the Per2 clock gene is not necessary for the photoperiodic response in mice.
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Project description:Seasonal adaptation to changes in light:dark regimes (i.e., photoperiod) allows organisms living at temperate latitudes to anticipate environmental change and adjust their physiology and behavior accordingly. The circadian system has been implicated in measurement and response to changes in photoperiod in nearly all animals studied so far (Saunders, 2011). The use of both traditional and non-traditional model insects with robust seasonal responses has recently genetically demonstrated the central role that clock genes play in photoperiodic response. Yet, the molecular pathways involved in insect photoperiodic responses remain largely unknown. Here, using the Eastern North American monarch butterfly (Reppert et al, 2016; Denlinger et al, 2017), we identified the vitamin A pathway as a novel pathway downstream of the circadian clock mediating insect photoperiod responsiveness. We found that interrupting clock function by disrupting circadian activation and repression abolishes photoperiodic responses in reproductive output, providing a functional link between clock genes and photoperiodic responsiveness in the monarch. Through transcriptomic approaches, we identified a molecular signature of seasonal-specific rhythmic gene expression in the brain, the organ known to function in photoperiodic reception in both Lepidoptera and some flies (Bowen et al, 1984; Saunders & Cymborowski, 1996). Among genes differentially expressed between both long and short photoperiods and between seasonal forms, several were belonging to the vitamin A pathway. The rhythmic expression of all of these genes was abolished in clock-deficient mutants. We also showed that a CRISPR/Cas9-mediated loss-of-function mutation in the pathway’s rate-limiting enzyme, ninaB1, impaired the monarch ability to respond to the photoperiod independently of visual function in the compound eye and without affecting circadian rhythms. Our finding that the vitamin A pathway is a key mediator of photoperiodic responses in insects could have broad implications for understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying photoperiodism.
2019-11-13 | GSE126336 | GEO
Project description:Recent studies have shown that in addition to the transcriptional circadian clock, many organisms, including Arabidopsis, have a circadian redox rhythm driven by the organism's metabolic activities. It has been hypothesized that the redox rhythm is linked to the circadian clock, but the mechanism and the biological significance of this link have only begun to be investigated. Here we report that the master immune regulator NPR1 (non-expressor of pathogenesis-related gene 1) of Arabidopsis is a sensor of the plant's redox state and regulates transcription of core circadian clock genes even in the absence of pathogen challenge. Surprisingly, acute perturbation in the redox status triggered by the immune signal salicylic acid does not compromise the circadian clock but rather leads to its reinforcement. Mathematical modelling and subsequent experiments show that NPR1 reinforces the circadian clock without changing the period by regulating both the morning and the evening clock genes. This balanced network architecture helps plants gate their immune responses towards the morning and minimize costs on growth at night. Our study demonstrates how a sensitive redox rhythm interacts with a robust circadian clock to ensure proper responsiveness to environmental stimuli without compromising fitness of the organism.
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Project description:The transcriptional regulator CONSTANS (CO) promotes flowering of Arabidopsis under long summer days (LDs) but not under short winter days (SDs). Post-translational regulation of CO is crucial for this response by stabilizing the protein at the end of a LD, whereas promoting its degradation throughout the night under LD and SD. We show that mutations in CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1 (COP1), a component of a ubiquitin ligase, cause extreme early flowering under SDs, and that this is largely dependent on CO activity. Furthermore, transcription of the CO target gene FT is increased in cop1 mutants and decreased in plants overexpressing COP1 in phloem companion cells. COP1 and CO interact in vivo and in vitro through the C-terminal region of CO. COP1 promotes CO degradation mainly in the dark, so that in cop1 mutants CO protein but not CO mRNA abundance is dramatically increased during the night. However, in the morning CO degradation occurs independently of COP1 by a phytochrome B-dependent mechanism. Thus, COP1 contributes to day length perception by reducing the abundance of CO during the night and thereby delaying flowering under SDs.
| S-EPMC2291449 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Many plants monitor day-length changes throughout the year and use the information to precisely regulate the timing of seasonal flowering for maximum reproductive success. In Arabidopsis thaliana, transcriptional regulation of the CONSTANS (CO) gene and posttranslational regulation of CO protein are crucial mechanisms for proper day-length measurement in photoperiodic flowering. Currently, the CYCLING DOF FACTOR proteins are the only transcription factors known to directly regulate CO gene expression, and the mechanisms that directly activate CO transcription have remained unknown. Here we report the identification of four CO transcriptional activators, named FLOWERING BHLH 1 (FBH1), FBH2, FBH3, and FBH4. All FBH proteins are related basic helix-loop-helix-type transcription factors that preferentially bind to the E-box cis-elements in the CO promoter. Overexpression of all FBH genes drastically elevated CO levels and caused early flowering regardless of photoperiod, whereas CO levels were reduced in the fbh quadruple mutants. In addition, FBH1 is expressed in the vascular tissue and bound near the transcription start site of the CO promoter in vivo. Furthermore, FBH homologs in poplar and rice induced CO expression in Arabidopsis. These results indicate that FBH proteins positively regulate CO transcription for photoperiodic flowering and that this mechanism may be conserved in diverse plant species. Our results suggest that the diurnal CO expression pattern is generated by a concert of redundant functions of positive and negative transcriptional regulators.
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Project description:BACKGROUND: Most organisms have evolved a circadian clock in order to anticipate daily environmental changes and many of these organisms are also capable of sophisticated measurement of daylength (photoperiodism) that is used to regulate seasonal events such as diapause, migration and polymorphism. It has been generally accepted that the same elements are involved in both circadian (daily) and seasonal (annual) rhythms because both rely upon daily light-dark cycles. However, as reasonable as this sounds, there remains no conclusive evidence of such a molecular machinery in insects. We have approached this issue by using RNA interference (RNAi) in Riptortus pedestris. RESULTS: The cuticle deposition rhythm exhibited the major properties of circadian rhythms, indicating that the rhythm is regulated by a circadian clock. RNAi directed against the circadian clock genes of period and cycle, which are negative and positive regulators in the circadian clock, respectively, disrupted the cuticle deposition rhythm and distinct cuticle layers were produced by these RNAi. Simultaneously, period RNAi caused the insect to avert diapause under a diapause-inducing photoperiod whereas cycle RNAi induced diapause under a diapause-averting photoperiod. The expression patterns of juvenile hormone-regulated genes and the application of juvenile hormone analogue suggested that neither ovarian development itself nor a downstream cascade of juvenile hormone secretion, were disturbed by period and cycle RNAi. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that the circadian clock genes are crucial not only for daily rhythms but also for photoperiodic diapause. RNAi directed against period and cycle had opposite effects not only in the circadian cuticle deposition rhythm but also in the photoperiodic diapause. These RNAi also had opposite effects on juvenile hormone-regulated gene expression. It is still possible that the circadian clock genes pleiotropically affect ovarian development but, based on these results, we suggest that the circadian clock operated by the circadian clock genes, period and cycle, governs seasonal timing as well as the daily rhythms.
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