Chronobiology
Author: Melisa Luciana Lamberti | email: melisalamberti@gmail.com
Melisa Luciana Lamberti 1°, María Eugenia Goya 2°, Claire Bénard 3°, Diego Andrés Golombek 1°
1° Laboratorio de Cronobiología , Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2° Centre for Integrative Physiology, The University of Edinburh, Scotland, United Kingdom
3° Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
Circadian rhythms are biological processes that display endogenous oscillations close to 24h in different variables. These endogenous rhythms are regulated by a central clock, made up of clock genes that interact with each other in a complex manner, generating a transcriptional-translational feedback loop (TTFL). The central clock is entrained by a Zeitgeber (synchronizer), such as light and temperature cycles. The mechanism of circadian rhythms has been extensively studied in various organisms; here we use the powerful model organism C. elegans to uncover the general principles of regulation of circadian rhythms. The aim of this work is to decipher the molecular components of the clock, using a reporter system based on bioluminescence. In particular, we focus on the study of evolutionarily conserved circadian proteins (KIN-20 and LIN-42). We observed a lengthening of the endogenous period in mutant strains for the KIN-20 and LIN-42 proteins, in turn, when rescuing the mutations, the endogenous period returns to its normal values, close to 24h. In addition, we found that both proteins are expressed in the same regions in the nematode, and an alteration in the KIN-20 protein generates a decrease in the expression of the LIN-42 protein. In summary, our results show that KIN-20 and LIN-42 could be an important component of the central clock that regulates the circadian rhythms of adult nematodes.