Circadian clock: time for a phase shift of ideas?

Modulation of glucocorticoid receptor induction properties by core circadian clock proteins

Glucocorticoid (GC) plays important roles in diverse physiological processes including metabolism and immune functions. While circadian control of GC synthesis and secretion is relatively well appreciated, circadian control of GC action within target tissues remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that CLOCK/BMAL1, the core circadian clock components, reduces maximal GR transactivation (A(max)) as well as efficacy (EC₅₀) by a novel mechanism that requires binding to DNA and transactivation of target genes. Accordingly, we observe that PER1 and CRY1, the primary targets of CLOCK/BMAL1 action, reduce maximal GR transactivation while not affecting the efficacy. Moreover, we observe hyper-activations of GRE-dependent transcription in BMAL1- or PERs-deficient MEFs. In addition, endogenous GC target genes expression negatively correlates with the CLOCK/BMAL1 activity. Considering that GC sensitivity is widely implicated in human health and diseases, these results provide valuable insights into plethora of GC-related physiology and pathology.

A new mutation affecting FRQ-less rhythms in the circadian system of Neurospora crassa

We are using the fungus Neurospora crassa as a model organism to study the circadian system of eukaryotes. Although the FRQ/WCC feedback loop is said to be central to the circadian system in Neurospora, rhythms can still be seen under many conditions in FRQ-less (frq knockout) strains. To try to identify components of the FRQ-less oscillator (FLO), we carried out a mutagenesis screen in a FRQ-less strain and selected colonies with altered conidiation (spore-formation) rhythms. A mutation we named UV90 affects rhythmicity in both FRQ-less and FRQ-sufficient strains. The UV90 mutation affects FRQ-less rhythms in two conditions: the free-running long-period rhythm in choline-depleted chol-1 strains becomes arrhythmic, and the heat-entrained rhythm in the frq¹⁰ knockout is severely altered. In a FRQ-sufficient background, the UV90 mutation causes damping of the free-running conidiation rhythm, reduction of the amplitude of the FRQ protein rhythm, and increased phase-resetting responses to both light and heat pulses, consistent with a decreased amplitude of the circadian oscillator. The UV90 mutation also has small but significant effects on the period of the conidiation rhythm and on growth rate. The wild-type UV90 gene product appears to be required for a functional FLO and for sustained, high-amplitude rhythms in FRQ-sufficient conditions. The UV90 gene product may therefore be a good candidate for a component of the FRQ-less oscillator. These results support a model of the Neurospora circadian system in which the FRQ/WCC feedback loop mutually interacts with a single FLO in an integrated circadian system.

All eukaryotes (including humans), and some bacteria, have evolved internal biological clocks that control activity and physiology in a daily (circadian) cycle. The molecular oscillators that drive these circadian rhythms are said to depend on rhythmic expression and feedback regulation of a small set of “clock genes.” However, there is increasing evidence that there is more to the story than these well-studied feedback loops. In the fungus Neurospora crassa, rhythms can still be seen in mutants that are missing one of the clock genes, frq. There is currently a controversy as to whether there are many different frq-less oscillators and whether they interact with the frq clock. To identify the molecular mechanism that drives these frq-less rhythms, we started with a frq-less strain and mutagenized it to look for genes that affect the frq-less rhythms. We found a new mutation that not only disrupted two frq-less rhythms but also affected the rhythm when the frq gene is present. Our results suggest there is only one frq-less oscillator, and it interacts with the frq clock. Our new mutation may identify a gene that is critical to both oscillators. We suggest that a similar clock architecture may be common to all organisms.

Robust circadian clocks from coupled protein-modification and transcription-translation cycles

The cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus uses both a protein phosphorylation cycle and a transcription-translation cycle to generate circadian rhythms that are highly robust against biochemical noise. We use stochastic simulations to analyze how these cycles interact to generate stable rhythms in growing, dividing cells. We find that a protein phosphorylation cycle by itself is robust when protein turnover is low. For high decay or dilution rates (and compensating synthesis rates), however, the phosphorylation-based oscillator loses its integrity. Circadian rhythms thus cannot be generated with a phosphorylation cycle alone when the growth rate, and consequently the rate of protein dilution, is high enough; in practice, a purely posttranslational clock ceases to function well when the cell doubling time drops below the 24-h clock period. At higher growth rates, a transcription-translation cycle becomes essential for generating robust circadian rhythms. Interestingly, although a transcription-translation cycle is necessary to sustain a phosphorylation cycle at high growth rates, a phosphorylation cycle can dramatically enhance the robustness of a transcription-translation cycle at lower protein decay or dilution rates. In fact, the full oscillator built from these two tightly intertwined cycles far outperforms not just each of its two components individually, but also a hypothetical system in which the two parts are coupled as in textbook models of coupled phase oscillators. Our analysis thus predicts that both cycles are required to generate robust circadian rhythms over the full range of growth conditions.

Circadian clocks and cell division: what's the pacemaker?

Evolution has selected a system of two intertwined cell cycles: the cell division cycle (CDC) and the daily (circadian) biological clock. The circadian clock keeps track of solar time and programs biological processes to occur at environmentally appropriate times. One of these processes is the CDC, which is often gated by the circadian clock. The intermeshing of these two cell cycles is probably responsible for the observation that disruption of the circadian system enhances susceptibility to some kinds of cancer. The core mechanism underlying the circadian clockwork has been thought to be a transcription & translation feedback loop (TTFL), but recent evidence from studies with cyanobacteria, synthetic oscillators and immortalized cell lines suggests that the core circadian pacemaking mechanism that gates cell division in mammalian cells could be a post-translational oscillator (PTO).

The clock genes Period 2 and Cryptochrome 2 differentially balance bone formation

Background

Clock genes and their protein products regulate circadian rhythms in mammals but have also been implicated in various physiological processes, including bone formation. Osteoblasts build new mineralized bone whereas osteoclasts degrade it thereby balancing bone formation. To evaluate the contribution of clock components in this process, we investigated mice mutant in clock genes for a bone volume phenotype.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We found that Per2^Brdm1 mutant mice as well as mice lacking Cry2^−/− displayed significantly increased bone volume at 12 weeks of age, when bone turnover is high. Per2^Brdm1 mutant mice showed alterations in parameters specific for osteoblasts whereas mice lacking Cry2^−/− displayed changes in osteoclast specific parameters. Interestingly, inactivation of both Per2 and Cry2 genes leads to normal bone volume as observed in wild type animals. Importantly, osteoclast parameters affected due to the lack of Cry2, remained at the level seen in the Cry2^−/− mutants despite the simultaneous inactivation of Per2.

Conclusions/Significance

This indicates that Cry2 and Per2 affect distinct pathways in the regulation of bone volume with Cry2 influencing mostly the osteoclastic cellular component of bone and Per2 acting on osteoblast parameters.

Coupling of a core post-translational pacemaker to a slave transcription/translation feedback loop in a circadian system

Analysis of the cyanobacterial circadian biological clock reveals a complex interdependence between a transcription/translation feedback loop and a biochemical oscillator.

Cyanobacteria are the only model circadian clock system in which a circadian oscillator can be reconstituted in vitro. The underlying circadian mechanism appears to comprise two subcomponents: a post-translational oscillator (PTO) and a transcriptional/translational feedback loop (TTFL). The PTO and TTFL have been hypothesized to operate as dual oscillator systems in cyanobacteria. However, we find that they have a definite hierarchical interdependency—the PTO is the core pacemaker while the TTFL is a slave oscillator that quickly damps when the PTO stops. By analysis of overexpression experiments and mutant clock proteins, we find that the circadian system is dependent upon the PTO and that suppression of the PTO leads to damped TTFL-based oscillations whose temperature compensation is not stable under different metabolic conditions. Mathematical modeling indicates that the experimental data are compatible with a core PTO driving the TTFL; the combined PTO/TTFL system is resilient to noise. Moreover, the modeling indicates a mechanism by which the TTFL can feed into the PTO such that new synthesis of clock proteins can phase-shift or entrain the core PTO pacemaker. This prediction was experimentally tested and confirmed by entraining the in vivo circadian system with cycles of new clock protein synthesis that modulate the phosphorylation status of the clock proteins in the PTO. In cyanobacteria, the PTO is the self-sustained core pacemaker that can operate independently of the TTFL, but the TTFL damps when the phosphorylation status of the PTO is clamped. However, the TTFL can provide entraining input into the PTO. This study is the first to our knowledge to experimentally and theoretically investigate the dynamics of a circadian clock in which a PTO is coupled to a TTFL. These results have important implications for eukaryotic clock systems in that they can explain how a TTFL could appear to be a core circadian clockwork when in fact the true pacemaker is an embedded biochemical oscillator.

Many organisms from bacteria to humans have evolved circadian mechanisms for regulating biological processes on a daily time scale. In cyanobacteria, a minimal system for such cyclical regulation can be reconstituted in vitro from three proteins, called KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC. This three-protein oscillator is believed to regulate the cyclical activities in vivo through a post-translational mechanism that involves rhythmic phosphorylation of KaiC. Although this post-translational oscillator (PTO) is sufficient for generating rhythms in vitro, the cyanobacterial circadian system in vivo also includes a transcriptional/translational feedback loop (TTFL). The precise roles of the PTO and the TTFL and their interdependence in forming the complete clock system in vivo are unclear. By manipulating wild-type and mutant clock protein expression in vivo, we here show that the cyanobacterial circadian system is dependent upon the biochemical oscillator provided by the PTO and that suppression of the PTO leads to a residual damped (slave) oscillation that results from the TTFL. Mathematical modeling shows that the experimental data are compatible with a mechanism in which the PTO acts as a pacemaker to drive the activity of the TTFL. Moreover, our analyses suggest a mechanism by which the TTFL can feed back into the PTO such that new synthesis of the Kai proteins entrains the core PTO pacemaker. Therefore, the PTO and TTFL appear to have a definite hierarchical interdependency: the PTO is a self-sustained core pacemaker that can oscillate independently of the TTFL, but the TTFL is a slave oscillator that damps when the phosphorylation status of KaiC in the PTO is clamped. The core circadian pacemaker in eukaryotes is thought to be a TTFL, but our results with cyanobacteria have important implications for eukaryotic clock systems in that they can explain how a TTFL could appear to be the core clock when in fact the true pacemaker is an embedded biochemical oscillator.

A cyanobacterial circadian clockwork

Cyanobacteria have become a major model system for analyzing circadian rhythms. The temporal program in this organism enhances fitness in rhythmic environments and is truly global--essentially all genes are regulated by the circadian system. The topology of the chromosome also oscillates and possibly regulates the rhythm of gene expression. The underlying circadian mechanism appears to consist of both a post-translational oscillator (PTO) and a transcriptional/translational feedback loop (TTFL). The PTO can be reconstituted in vitro with three purified proteins (KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC) and ATP. These three core oscillator proteins have been crystallized and structurally determined, the only full-length circadian proteins to be so characterized. The timing of cell division is gated by a circadian checkpoint, but the circadian pacemaker is not influenced by the status of the cell division cycle. This imperturbability may be due to the presence of the PTO that persists under conditions in which metabolism is repressed. Recent biochemical, biophysical, and structural discoveries have brought the cyanobacterial circadian system to the brink of explaining heretofore unexplainable biochemical characteristics of a circadian oscillator: the long time constant, precision, and temperature compensation.