Project description:Circadian clocks coordinate time-of-day specific metabolic and physiological processes to maximize performance and fitness. In addition to light, which is considered the strongest time cue to entrain animal circadian clocks, metabolic input has emerged as an important signal for clock modulation and entrainment, especially in peripheral clocks. Circadian clock proteins have been to be substrates of O-GlcNAcylation, a nutrient sensitive post-translational modification (PTM), and the interplay between clock protein O-GlcNAcylation and other PTMs, like phosphorylation, is expected to facilitate the regulation of circadian physiology by metabolic signals. Here, we used mass spectrometry proteomics to identify PTMs on PERIOD, the key biochemical timer of the Drosophila clock, over the circadian cycle.
Project description:Circadian clocks have evolved as time-measuring molecular devices to help organisms adapt their physiology to daily changes in light and temperature. Cycling transcription has been long hypothesized to account for the wealth of rhythmic protein abundance. However, cyclic degradation signals such as ubiquitylation could shape the rhythmic protein landscape as well. In order to document the circadian ubiquitylated proteome of Drosophila melanogaster, we took advantage of a new means of Ub purification based on in vivo biotinylation of AviTag-tagged ubiquitin by the BirA protein, the bioUb system. NeutrAvidin-bound fractions of head lysates were collected at four circadian times six hours apart and proteins were identified and quantified using a proteomic-based approach.
Project description:Organisms have adapted to the changing environmental conditions within the 24h cycle of the day by temporally segregating tissue physiology to the optimal time of the day. On the cellular level temporal segregation of physiological processes is established by the circadian clock, a Bmal1 dependent transcriptional oscillator network. The circadian clocks within individual cells of a tissue are synchronised by environmental signals, mainly light, in order to reach temporally segregated physiology on the tissue level. However, how light mediated synchronisation of peripheral tissue clocks is achieved mechanistically and whether circadian clocks in different organs are autonomous or interact with each other to achieve rhythmicity is unknown. Here we report that light can synchronise core circadian clocks in two peripheral tissues, the epidermis and liver hepatocytes, even in the complete absence of functional clocks in any other tissue within the whole organism. On the other hand, tissue extrinsic circadian clock rhythmicity is necessary to retain rhythmicity of the epidermal clock in the absence of light, proving for the first time that the circadian clockwork acts as a memory of time for the synchronisation of peripheral clocks in the absence of external entrainment signals. Furthermore, we find that tissue intrinsic Bmal1 is an important regulator of the epidermal differentiation process whose deregulation leads to a premature aging like phenotype of the epidermis. Thus, our results establish a new model for the segregation of peripheral tissue physiology whereby the synchronisation of peripheral clocks is acquired by the interaction of a light dependent but circadian clock independent pathway with circadian clockwork dependent cues.
Project description:Organisms have adapted to the changing environmental conditions within the 24h cycle of the day by temporally segregating tissue physiology to the optimal time of the day. On the cellular level temporal segregation of physiological processes is established by the circadian clock, a Bmal1 dependent transcriptional oscillator network. The circadian clocks within individual cells of a tissue are synchronised by environmental signals, mainly light, in order to reach temporally segregated physiology on the tissue level. However, how light mediated synchronisation of peripheral tissue clocks is achieved mechanistically and whether circadian clocks in different organs are autonomous or interact with each other to achieve rhythmicity is unknown. Here we report that light can synchronise core circadian clocks in two peripheral tissues, the epidermis and liver hepatocytes, even in the complete absence of functional clocks in any other tissue within the whole organism. On the other hand, tissue extrinsic circadian clock rhythmicity is necessary to retain rhythmicity of the epidermal clock in the absence of light, proving for the first time that the circadian clockwork acts as a memory of time for the synchronisation of peripheral clocks in the absence of external entrainment signals. Furthermore, we find that tissue intrinsic Bmal1 is an important regulator of the epidermal differentiation process whose deregulation leads to a premature aging like phenotype of the epidermis. Thus, our results establish a new model for the segregation of peripheral tissue physiology whereby the synchronisation of peripheral clocks is acquired by the interaction of a light dependent but circadian clock independent pathway with circadian clockwork dependent cues.
Project description:Physiology is regulated by interconnected cell and tissue circadian clocks. Disruption of the rhythms generated by this interconnectedness is associated with metabolic disease. Here we tested the interactions between clocks in two critical components of organismal metabolism – liver and skeletal muscle – by rescuing clock function either in each organ separately, or in both organs simultaneously, in otherwise clock-less mice. Experiments revealed that individual clocks are partially sufficient for tissue glucose metabolism, yet the connections between both tissue clocks coupled with daily feeding rhythms maximizes systemic glucose tolerance. This synergy relies in part on local transcriptional control of the glucose machinery, feeding-responsive signals such as insulin, and metabolic cycles that connect the muscle and liver. We posit that spatiotemporal mechanisms of muscle and liver play an essential role in the maintenance of systemic glucose homeostasis, and that disrupting this diurnal coordination can contribute to the metabolic disease.
Project description:Mammals rely on a network of circadian clocks to control daily systemic metabolism and physiology. The central pacemaker in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is considered hierarchically dominant over peripheral clocks, whose degree of independence, or tissue-level autonomy, has never been ascertained in vivo. Using arrhythmic Bmal1-null mice, we generated animals with reconstituted circadian expression of BMAL1 exclusively in the liver (Liver-RE). High-throughput transcriptomics and metabolomics show that the liver has independent circadian functions specific for metabolic processes such as the NAD+ salvage pathway and glycogen turnover. However, although BMAL1 occupies chromatin at most genomic targets in Liver-RE mice, circadian expression is restricted to ∼10% of normally rhythmic transcripts. Finally, rhythmic clock gene expression is lost in Liver-RE mice under constant darkness. Hence, full circadian function in the liver depends on signals emanating from other clocks, and light contributes to tissue-autonomous clock function.
Project description:Polymethoxylated flavones (PMFs) are a group of natural compounds known to display a wide array of beneficial effects to promote physiological fitness. Recent studies revealed circadian clocks as an important cellular mechanism mediating the preventive efficacy of the major PMF Nobiletin against metabolic disorders. Sudachitin is a PMF enriched in Citrus sudachi, and its functions and mechanism of action are poorly understood. Using circadian reporter cells, we showed that Sudachitin modulated circadian amplitude and period of Bmal1 promoter-driven reporter rhythms, and real-time qPCR analysis showed that Sudachitin altered expression of core clock genes, notably Bmal1, at both transcript and protein levels. Mass-spec analysis revealed systemic exposure in vivo. In mice fed with high-fat diet with or without Sudachitin, we observed increased nighttime activity and daytime sleep, accompanied by significant metabolic improvements in a circadian time-dependent manner, including respiratory quotient, blood lipid and glucose profiles and liver physiology. Focusing on the liver, RNA-sequencing and metabolomic analyses revealed prevalent diurnal remodeling in both gene expression and metabolite accumulation. Taken together, our study elucidates Sudachitin as a new clock-modulating PMF with hepatic remodeling functions to improve systemic metabolic homeostasis, and highlights the circadian clock as a fundamental mechanism to safeguard physiological well-being.
Project description:Circadian clocks drive 24-h rhythms of physiology and behavior. The circadian clock of hepatocytes has been shown to regulate glucose metabolism, and we were interested if rescuing liver clock function can reverse metabolic impairments in hyperphagic/obese Clock-D19 mutant mice. We compared transcripomte regulation in livers (at Zeitgeber time ZT10) of wild-type (C57BL/6J) and Clock-D19 mice and Clock-D19 mice with genetic rescue of liver clock function using hydrodynamic tail vein injection of a WT-CLOCK expression plasmid
Project description:Mammalian circadian clocks precisely control the rhythms of behavior and physiology, and can be reset by various environmental signals. While the light-dark (LD) cycle resets the master clock, timed food intake is a potent synchronizer of peripheral clocks. As the largest metabolic organ, the liver sensitively responds to the food signals and secrets hepatokines, leading to the robust regulation of metabolic and clock processes. However, it remains unknown which hepatokine mediates the food-driven resetting of the liver clock independent of the master clock. In our current study, we clustered high-throughput RNA sequencing results to screen out candidate genes that mediate the food-driven resetting of the liver clock
Project description:Circadian clocks drive ~24 hr rhythms in tissue physiology. They rely on transcriptional/translational feedback loops driven by interacting networks of clock complexes.To gain insights into the role of the mammary clock, circadian time-series microarrays were performed to identify rhythmic genes in vivo. Breast tissues were isolated at 4 hr intervals for two circadian (24 hourly) cycles, from mice kept under constant darkness to avoid any light- or dark-driven genes.