Project description:Longitudinal studies associate shiftwork with cardiometabolic disorders but do not establish causation nor elucidate mechanisms of disease. We developed a mouse model based on shiftwork schedules to study circadian misalignment in both sexes, where misaligned mice undergo an 8-hour phase advance every week for 15 weeks. Behavioral and transcriptional rhythmicity were preserved in female mice despite exposure to misalignment. Females were protected against the cardiometabolic impact of circadian disruption seen in males. The liver transcriptome and proteome revealed discordant pathway perturbations between the sexes. Tissue-level changes were accompanied by gut microbiome dysbiosis only in male mice. In the UK biobank, female shiftworkers showed stronger circadian rhythmicity in activity and a lower incidence of metabolic syndrome than males. Thus we show that female mice are resilient to chronic circadian misalignment, and that these differences are conserved in humans.
Project description:The circadian gene expression in peripheral tissue displays rhythmicity which is driven by the circadian clock and feeding-fasting cycle in mammals. In this study, circadian transcriptome was performed to investigate how fasting influences circadian gene regulation.
Project description:The circadian clock and rhythmic food intake are both important regulators of rhythmic gene expression in the liver. It remains, however, elusive to which extent the circadian clock network and natural feeding rhythms contribute to rhythmic gene expression. To systematically address this question, we developed an algorithm to investigate differential rhythmicity between a varying number of conditions. Mouse knockout models of different parts of the circadian clock network (Bmal1, Cry1/2, and Hlf/Dbp/Tef) exposed to controlled feeding regimens (ad libitum, night restricted feeding) were generated and analyzed for their temporal hepatic transcriptome. A genetical ablation of core loop elements altered feeding patterns that were restored by night restricted feeding. Mainly genes with a high amplitude were driven by the circadian clock but natural feeding patterns equally contributed to rhythmic gene expression with lower amplitude. We observed that Bmal1 and Cry1/2 KOs differed in rhythmic gene expression and identified differences in mean expression levels as a predictor for rhythmic gene expression. In Hlf/Dbp/Tef KO, mRNA levels of Hlf/Dbp/Tef target genes were decreased, albeit rhythmicity was overall preserved potentially due to the activity of the D-Box binding repressor NFIL3. Genes that lost rhythmicity in Hlf/Dbp/Tef KOs were identified to be no direct targets of PARbZip factors and presumably lost rhythmicity due to indirect effects. Collectively, our findings provide unprecedent insights into the diurnal transcriptome in mouse liver and defines the contribution of subloops of the circadian clock network and natural feeding cycles. The developed algorithm and a webapp to browse the outcomes of the study are publicly available to serve as a resource for the scientific community.
Project description:The circadian clock and rhythmic food intake are both important regulators of rhythmic gene expression in the liver. It remains, however, elusive to which extent the circadian clock network and natural feeding rhythms contribute to rhythmic gene expression. To systematically address this question, we developed an algorithm to investigate differential rhythmicity between a varying number of conditions. Mouse knockout models of different parts of the circadian clock network (Bmal1, Cry1/2, and Hlf/Dbp/Tef) exposed to controlled feeding regimens (ad libitum, night restricted feeding) were generated and analyzed for their temporal hepatic transcriptome. A genetical ablation of core loop elements altered feeding patterns that were restored by night restricted feeding. Mainly genes with a high amplitude were driven by the circadian clock but natural feeding patterns equally contributed to rhythmic gene expression with lower amplitude. We observed that Bmal1 and Cry1/2 KOs differed in rhythmic gene expression and identified differences in mean expression levels as a predictor for rhythmic gene expression. In Hlf/Dbp/Tef KO, mRNA levels of Hlf/Dbp/Tef target genes were decreased, albeit rhythmicity was overall preserved potentially due to the activity of the D-Box binding repressor NFIL3. Genes that lost rhythmicity in Hlf/Dbp/Tef KOs were identified to be no direct targets of PARbZip factors and presumably lost rhythmicity due to indirect effects. Collectively, our findings provide unprecedent insights into the diurnal transcriptome in mouse liver and defines the contribution of subloops of the circadian clock network and natural feeding cycles. The developed algorithm and a webapp to browse the outcomes of the study are publicly available to serve as a resource for the scientific community.
Project description:Longitudinal studies associate shiftwork with cardiometabolic disorders but do not establish causation nor elucidate mechanisms of disease. We developed a mouse model based on shiftwork schedules to study circadian misalignment in both sexes, where misaligned mice undergo an 8-hour phase advance every week for 15 weeks. Behavioral and transcriptional rhythmicity were preserved in female mice despite exposure to misalignment. Females were protected against the cardiometabolic impact of circadian disruption seen in males. The liver transcriptome and proteome revealed discordant pathway perturbations between the sexes. Tissue-level changes were accompanied by gut microbiome dysbiosis only in male mice. In the UK biobank, female shiftworkers showed stronger circadian rhythmicity in activity and a lower incidence of metabolic syndrome than males. Thus we show that female mice are resilient to chronic circadian misalignment, and that these differences are conserved in humans.
Project description:Overnutrition disrupts circadian rhythms leading to dysregulated metabolism by mechanisms that are not well understood. Here we show that diet-induced obesity (DIO) causes massive remodeling of circadian enhancer activity and gene transcription in mouse liver. Remarkably, DIO triggers synchronous, high amplitude circadian rhythms of both fatty acid (FA) synthesis and oxidation. This gain of circadian rhythmicity in lipid metabolic pathways that oppose each other emphasizes the importance of balance and flux in normal hepatic lipid metabolism. DIO-promoted rhythmicity of Sterol Regulatory Element-Binding Protein (SREBP) activation, which was required not only for the induction of FA synthesis but also, surprisingly, for FA oxidation (FAO). DIO also brought about a high amplitude circadian rhythm of peroxisome proliferated receptor a (PPARa), which was required for FAO. Provision of a pharmacological ligand for PPARa abrogated the requirement of SREBP for FA oxidation (but not FA synthesis), suggesting that SREBP indirectly controls FA oxidation via production of an endogenous PPARa ligand. Moreover, the high amplitude circadian rhythm of PPARa imparts time-of-day-dependent responsiveness to lipid-lowering drugs. Thus, acquisition of rhythmicity for the non-core clock components PPARa and SREBP1 remodels metabolic gene transcription in response to a challenging nutritive environment and enables a chronopharmacological approach to metabolic disorders.
Project description:Most cells in the body contain a cell autonomous molecular clock, but the requirement of peripheral clocks for circadian rhythmicity, and their effects on physiology, are not well understood. Here we show that deletion of core clock components REV-ERBa and b in adult mouse hepatocytes caused the loss of circadian rhythmicity of many liver genes, as expected, but also led to maintained and even gained rhythmicity of other genes without altering feeding behavior. The loss of REV-ERBs from hepatocytes leads to an exaggerated circadian rhythm of de novo lipogenesis and serum triglyceride levels. It is increasingly recognized that liver function is also influenced by non-hepatocytic cells, and remarkably the loss of REV-ERBs in hepatocytes remodeled the circadian transcriptomes of multiple cell types within the liver without altering their core clocks, indicating that hepatocytes communicated time signals to the non-hepatocytic cells. Finally, alteration of food availability, which is the dominant zeitgeber in the liver, demonstrated strong interdependence of the cell-autonomous hepatocyte clock mechanism and non-cell-autonomous environmental change. Together these studies reveal the interdependence of endogenous hepatocyte clocks and feeding entrainment on the regulation of circadian rhythms of multiple cell types in the liver.
Project description:Aims/hypothesis: Obesity and elevated circulating lipids may impair metabolism by disrupting the molecular circadian clock. We tested the hypothesis that lipid-overload may interact with the circadian clock and alter the rhythmicity of gene expression through epigenetic mechanisms. Methods: We determined the effect of the saturated fatty acid palmitate on circadian transcriptomics and examined the impact on histone H3 lysine K27 acetylation (H3K27ac) and the regulation of circadian rhythms in primary human skeletal muscle myotubes. Total H3 abundance and histone H3K27ac was assessed in vastus lateralis muscle biopsies from men with either obesity or normal weight. Results: Palmitate reprogrammed the circadian transcriptome in myotubes without altering the mRNA rhythm of core clock genes. Genes with enhanced cycling in response to palmitate were associated with post-translational modification of histones. Cycling of histone 3 lysine 27 acetylation (H3K27ac), a marker of active gene enhancers, was modified by palmitate treatment in myotubes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing confirmed that palmitate altered the cycling of DNA regions associated with H3K27ac. Overlap of mRNA and DNA regions associated with H3K27ac and pharmacological inhibition of histone acetyl transferases revealed novel cycling genes associated to lipid exposure in human myotubes. Conclusion/interpretation: Palmitate disrupts transcriptomic rhythmicity and modifies histone H3K27ac in circadian manner, suggesting acute lipid-overload alters the circadian chromatin landscape and reprograms circadian gene expression of skeletal muscle.
Project description:Inadequate sleep prevails in modern society and it impairs the circadian transcriptome. However, whether acute sleep deprivation has impact on the circadian rhythms is not clear. Here, we show that in mouse lung, a 10-hour acute sleep deprivation can alter the circadian expression of approximally 3,000 genes. We found that circadian rhythm disappears in genes related to metabolism and signaling pathways regulating protein phosphorylation after acute sleep deprivation, while the core circadian regulators do not change much in rhythmicity. Importantly, the strong positive correlation between mean expression and amplitude (E-A correlation) of cycling genes has been validated in both control and sleep deprivation conditions, supporting the energetic cost optimization model of circadian gene expression. Thus, we reveal that acute sleep deprivation leads to a profound change in the circadian gene transcription that influences the biological functions in lung.
Project description:Circadian rhythmicity governs a remarkable array of fundamental biological functions and is mediated by cyclical transcriptomic and proteomic activities. Epigenetic factors are also involved in this circadian machinery; however, despite extensive efforts, detection and characterization of circadian cytosine modifications at the nucleotide level have remained elusive. In this study, we report that a large proportion of epigenetically variable cytosines show a circadian pattern in their modification status in mice. Importantly, the cytosines with circadian epigenetic oscillations significantly overlapped with the cytosines exhibiting age-related changes in their modification status. Our findings suggest that evolutionary advantageous processes like circadian rhythmicity can also contribute to an organism’s deterioration.