title: Circadian period integrates network information through activation of the BMP signaling pathway.
abstract: Living organisms use biological clocks to maintain their internal temporal order and anticipate daily environmental changes. In Drosophila, circadian regulation of locomotor behavior is controlled by ∼150 neurons; among them, neurons expressing the PIGMENT DISPERSING FACTOR (PDF) set the period of locomotor behavior under free-running conditions. To date, it remains unclear how individual circadian clusters integrate their activity to assemble a distinctive behavioral output. Here we show that the BONE MORPHOGENETIC PROTEIN (BMP) signaling pathway plays a crucial role in setting the circadian period in PDF neurons in the adult brain. Acute deregulation of BMP signaling causes period lengthening through regulation of dClock transcription, providing evidence for a novel function of this pathway in the adult brain. We propose that coherence in the circadian network arises from integration in PDF neurons of both the pace of the cell-autonomous molecular clock and information derived from circadian-relevant neurons through release of BMP ligands.
authors: Laboratorio de Genética del Comportamiento, Fundación Instituto Leloir, IIB-BA-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors: Esteban J
authors: EJ
authors: Beckwith
authors: E Axel
authors: EA
authors: Gorostiza
authors: Jimena
authors: J
authors: Berni
authors: Carolina
authors: C
authors: Rezával
authors: Agustín
authors: A
authors: Pérez-Santángelo
authors: Alejandro D
authors: AD
authors: Nadra
authors: María Fernanda
authors: MF
authors: Ceriani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D056926:CLOCK Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000502:physiology; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins; C120526:Clk protein, Drosophila; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D056926:CLOCK Proteins