Molecular clocks. A vivid loop of light

Inhibitor of DNA binding 2 (Id2) Regulates Photic Entrainment Responses in Mice: Differential Responses of the Id2-/- Mouse Circadian System Are Dependent on Circadian Phase and on Duration and Intensity of Light

ID2 is a rhythmically expressed helix-loop-helix transcriptional repressor, and its deletion results in abnormal properties of photoentrainment. By examining parametric and nonparametric models of entrainment, we have started to explore the mechanism underlying this circadian phenotype. Id2-/- mice were exposed to differing photoperiods, and the phase angle of entrainment under short days was delayed 2 h as compared with controls. When exposed to long durations of continuous light, enhanced entrainment responses were observed after a delay of the clock but not with phase advances. However, the magnitude of phase shifts was not different in Id2-/- mice tested in constant darkness using a discrete pulse of saturating light. No differences were observed in the speed of clock resetting when challenged by a series of discrete pulses interspaced by varying time intervals. A photic phase-response curve was constructed, although no genotypic differences were observed. Although phase shifts produced by discrete saturating light pulses at CT16 were similar, treatment with a subsaturating pulse revealed a ~2-fold increase in the magnitude of the Id2-/- shift. A corresponding elevation of light-induced per1 expression was observed in the Id2-/- suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). To test whether the phenotype is based on a sensitivity change at the level of the retina, pupil constriction responses were measured. No differences were observed in responses or in retinal histology, suggesting that the phenotype occurs downstream of the retina and retinal hypothalamic tract. To test whether the phenotype is due to a reduced amplitude of state variables of the clock, the expression of clock genes per1 and per2 was assessed in vivo and in SCN tissue explants. Amplitude, phase, and period length were normal in Id2-/- mice. These findings suggest that ID2 contributes to a photoregulatory mechanism at the level of the SCN central pacemaker through control of the photic induction of negative elements of the clock.

Circadian oscillator proteins across the kingdoms of life: structural aspects

Circadian oscillators are networks of biochemical feedback loops that generate 24-hour rhythms in organisms from bacteria to animals. These periodic rhythms result from a complex interplay among clock components that are specific to the organism, but share molecular mechanisms across kingdoms. A full understanding of these processes requires detailed knowledge, not only of the biochemical properties of clock proteins and their interactions, but also of the three-dimensional structure of clockwork components. Posttranslational modifications and protein–protein interactions have become a recent focus, in particular the complex interactions mediated by the phosphorylation of clock proteins and the formation of multimeric protein complexes that regulate clock genes at transcriptional and translational levels. This review covers the structural aspects of circadian oscillators, and serves as a primer for this exciting realm of structural biology.

The circadian binding of CLOCK protein to the promoter of C/ebpα gene in mouse cells

C/EBPα plays important roles in metabolism as well as in the maintenance of energy homeostasis. Here we describe loss of the circadian oscillation of C/ebpα expression in liver of Clock mutant mice. Reporter assays indicate Clock and Bmal significantly induced C/ebpα gene expression whereas Cry suppressed. Real time reporter assays showed that two mutated E-boxes disrupted C/ebpα promoter dependent-oscillation. Chromatin immunoprecipitation suggests Clock can bind to two E-boxes in the C/ebpα promoter with a circadian manner in vivo. Thus, C/ebpα gene transcription is under circadian control of a core clock component, Clock. The data suggests that circadian disturbances may affect metabolic abnormalities through the C/ebpα pathway in liver.

Circadian oscillators in eukaryotes

The biological clock, present in nearly all eukaryotes, has evolved such that organisms can adapt to our planet's rotation in order to anticipate the coming day or night as well as unfavorable seasons. As all modern high-precision chronometers, the biological clock uses oscillation as a timekeeping element. In this review, we describe briefly the discovery, historical development, and general properties of circadian oscillators. The issue of temperature compensation (TC) is discussed, and our present understanding of the underlying genetic and biochemical mechanisms in circadian oscillators are described with special emphasis on Neurospora crassa, mammals, and plants.

CLOCK regulates circadian rhythms of hepatic glycogen synthesis through transcriptional activation of Gys2

Hepatic glycogen content is important for glucose homeostasis and exhibits robust circadian rhythms that peak at the end of the active phase in mammals. The activities of the rate-limiting enzymes for glycogenesis and glycogenolysis also show circadian rhythms, and the balance between them forms the circadian rhythm of the hepatic glycogen content. However, no direct evidence has yet implicated the circadian clock in the regulation of glycogen metabolism at the molecular level. We show here that a Clock gene mutation damps the circadian rhythm of the hepatic glycogen content, as well as the circadian mRNA and protein expression of Gys2 (glycogen synthase 2), which is the rate-limiting enzyme of glycogenesis in the liver. Transient reporter assays revealed that CLOCK drives the transcriptional activation of Gys2 via two tandemly located E-boxes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays of liver tissues revealed that CLOCK binds to these E-box elements in vivo, and real time reporter assays showed that these elements are sufficient for circadian Gys2 expression in vitro. Thus, CLOCK regulates the circadian rhythms of hepatic glycogen synthesis through transcriptional activation of Gys2.

A negative regulatory element required for light-dependent pinopsin gene expression

In vertebrates, a variety of light-stimulated genes are distributed in the retina, the pineal gland, and the suprachiasmatic nucleus, but a cis-element(s) responsible for the light-dependent transcriptional regulation is left unexplored. Focusing on the pinopsin gene, a light-stimulated gene in the chick pineal gland, we performed a transcriptional analysis in the primary culture of the chick pineal cells that were transiently transfected with a luciferase reporter gene fused with various lengths of the 5' upstream region of the pinopsin gene. Light-dependent enhancer activity was detectable in the construct with the upstream region between -1156 and +31. Introduction of mutations within the 18 bp sequence at positions -1103 to -1086 (TGGCACGTGGGGTTCCTC), including a CACGTG E-box sequence, elevated the transcriptional activity in the dark and thereby abrogated the light dependency, suggesting that the 18 bp sequence is essential for a reduction of the transcriptional activity in the dark. In an electrophoretic mobility-shift assay, we identified a pineal nuclear factor(s) capable of binding to the 18 bp element in a sequence-specific manner. When a 49 bp fragment (-1122 to -1074) including the 18 bp sequence was placed upstream of the simian virus 40 promoter, the transcriptional activity was dramatically suppressed regardless of light conditions in the chick pineal cells, and a more pronounced repression was observed in nonpineal/nonphotosensory LMH and NIH 3T3 cells. These results suggest that the 18 bp element in the pinopsin promoter constitutes the binding site of a ubiquitous factor that serves for the transcriptional repression that is required, although not sufficient, for the light-dependent expression of pinopsin gene in the chick pinealocytes.

Light and clock expression of the Neurospora clock gene frequency is differentially driven by but dependent on WHITE COLLAR-2

Visible light is thought to reset the Neurospora circadian clock by acting through heterodimers of the WHITE COLLAR-1 and WHITE COLLAR-2 proteins to induce transcription of the frequency gene. To characterize this photic entrainment we examined frq expression in constant light, under which condition the mRNA and protein of this clock gene were strongly induced. In continuous illumination FRQ accumulated in a highly phosphorylated state similar to that seen at subjective dusk, the time at which a step from constant light to darkness sets the clock. Examination of frq expression in several wc-2 mutant alleles surprisingly revealed differential regulation when frq expression was compared between constant light, following a light pulse, and darkness (clock-driven expression). Construction of a wc-2 null strain then demonstrated that WC-2 is absolutely required for both light and clock-driven frq expression, in contrast to previous expectations based on presumptive nulls containing altered Zn-finger function. Additionally, we found that frq light signal transduction differs from that of other light-regulated genes. Thus clock and light-driven frq expression is differentially regulated by, but dependent on, WC-2.