title: Regulation of the cycling of timeless (tim) RNA.
abstract: Circadian rhythms in Drosophila depend upon expression of the timeless (tim) and period (per) genes, which encode interacting components of the endogenous clock. These two clock genes show a robust circadian oscillation in transcription rate as well as RNA and protein levels. Transcriptional activation of both genes requires the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) PAS transcription factors dCLOCK (dCLK) and CYCLE (CYC), which bind E-box elements. We investigated the role of E-box elements in regulating behavioral rhythmicity and tim gene expression. We show that mutation of the upstream E-box in the tim gene prevents the rescue by tim cDNA sequences of the arrhythmic tim(01) phenotype. RNA encoded by this mutated tim transgene fails to cycle and is expressed at low levels. While a tim transgene carrying a wild-type E-box restores behavioral rhythms, tim RNA levels are intermediate to those of the mutant E-box transgenic lines and wild type, and do not display high amplitude cycling. On the other hand, high-amplitude RNA cycling was consistently obtained with a tim transgene that contains genomic, rather than cDNA, sequences. To identify additional sequences that may be required for tim cycling, we investigated the role of an E-box in the first intron of the tim gene through cell culture experiments. In these experiments, the presence of this intron did not have any effect on the activation of tim transcription by dCLK/CYC. As the upstream E-box was implicated in activation by dCLK/CYC in cell culture, we assayed sequences containing this E-box for association with proteins in fly head extracts. These studies provide the first biochemical evidence for an in vivo complex containing dCLK and CYC that binds the tim upstream sequence and is detected at all times of day. Together, these data highlight molecular mechanisms that are critical for behavioral rhythms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience and Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Pennsylvania Medical School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
authors.forename: G K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ousley
authors.forename: T K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Darlington
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Hickman
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kay
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sehgal
mesh_terms: D056930:ARNTL Transcription Factors; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D056926:CLOCK Proteins; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology; D004330:Drosophila; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D007438:Introns / Q000502:physiology; D009154:Mutation / Q000502:physiology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000502:physiology; D019076:Transgenes / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D056930:ARNTL Transcription Factors; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D056926:CLOCK Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D019476:Insect Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; C120526:Clk protein, Drosophila; C112805:cyc protein, Drosophila; C096445:tim protein, Drosophila