Projects per year
Abstract
Circadian rhythms are ubiquitous in eukaryotes, and coordinate numerous aspects of behaviour, physiology and metabolism, from sleep/wake cycles in mammals to growth and photosynthesis in plants. This daily timekeeping is thought to be driven by transcriptional-translational feedback loops, whereby rhythmic expression of 'clock' gene products regulates the expression of associated genes in approximately 24-hour cycles. The specific transcriptional components differ between phylogenetic kingdoms. The unicellular pico-eukaryotic alga Ostreococcus tauri possesses a naturally minimized clock, which includes many features that are shared with plants, such as a central negative feedback loop that involves the morning-expressed CCA1 and evening-expressed TOC1 genes. Given that recent observations in animals and plants have revealed prominent post-translational contributions to timekeeping, a reappraisal of the transcriptional contribution to oscillator function is overdue. Here we show that non-transcriptional mechanisms are sufficient to sustain circadian timekeeping in the eukaryotic lineage, although they normally function in conjunction with transcriptional components. We identify oxidation of peroxiredoxin proteins as a transcription-independent rhythmic biomarker, which is also rhythmic in mammals. Moreover we show that pharmacological modulators of the mammalian clock mechanism have the same effects on rhythms in Ostreococcus. Post-translational mechanisms, and at least one rhythmic marker, seem to be better conserved than transcriptional clock regulators. It is plausible that the oldest oscillator components are non-transcriptional in nature, as in cyanobacteria, and are conserved across kingdoms.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 554-8 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Nature |
Volume | 469 |
Issue number | 7331 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2011 |
Keywords
- Biological Markers
- Chlorophyta
- Circadian Rhythm
- Cycloheximide
- Deoxyadenosines
- Gene Expression Regulation
- Oxidation-Reduction
- Peroxiredoxins
- Protein Synthesis Inhibitors
- Transcription, Genetic
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Circadian rhythms persist without transcription in a eukaryote'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 2 Finished
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Miinimal models of the circadian clock in a novael biological system
1/12/07 → 31/05/11
Project: Research
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SynthSys; formerly CSBE: Centre for Systems Biology at Edinburgh
Millar, A., Beggs, J., Ghazal, P., Goryanin, I., Hillston, J., Plotkin, G., Tollervey, D., Walton, A. & Robertson, K.
8/01/07 → 31/12/12
Project: Research
Research output
- 1 Article
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Non-transcriptional oscillators in circadian timekeeping
van Ooijen, G. & Millar, A. J., 1 Nov 2012, In: Trends in biochemical sciences. 37, 11, p. 484-492 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Press/Media
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Study of plants may reveal the impact of jet lag and shift work on people
3/01/11
14 items of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Research breakthrough could help combat illnesses related to the disruption of the body clock
26/01/11
12 items of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research