Justin Blau

double-time is a novel Drosophila clock gene that regulates PERIOD protein accumulation

We have isolated three alleles of a novel Drosophila clock gene, double-time (dbt). Short- (dbtS) and long-period (dbtL) mutants alter both behavioral rhythmicity and molecular oscillations from previously identified clock genes, period and timeless. A third allele, dbtP, causes pupal lethality and eliminates circadian cycling of per and tim gene products in larvae. In dbtP mutants, PER proteins constitutively accumulate, remain hypophosphorylated, and no longer depend on TIM proteins for their accumulation. We propose that the normal function of DOUBLETIME protein is to reduce the stability and thus the level of accumulation of monomeric PER proteins. This would promote a delay between per/tim transcription and PER/TIM complex function, which is essential for molecular rhythmicity.

The Drosophila Clock Gene double-time Encodes a Protein Closely Related to Human Casein Kinase Iε

The cloning of double-time (dbt) is reported. DOUBLETIME protein (DBT) is most closely related to human casein kinase Iepsilon. dbtS and dbtL mutations, which alter period length of Drosophila circadian rhythms, produce single amino acid changes in conserved regions of the predicted kinase. dbtP mutants, which eliminate rhythms of per and tim expression and constitutively overproduce hypophosphorylated PER proteins, abolish most dbt expression. dbt mRNA appears to be expressed in the same cell types as are per and tim and shows no evident oscillation in wild-type heads. DBT is capable of binding to PER in vitro and in Drosophila cells, suggesting that a physical association of PER and DBT regulates PER phosphorylation and accumulation in vivo.

vrille, Pdp1, and dClock Form a Second Feedback Loop in the Drosophila Circadian Clock

The Drosophila circadian clock consists of two interlocked transcriptional feedback loops. In one loop, dCLOCK/CYCLE activates period expression, and PERIOD protein then inhibits dCLOCK/CYCLE activity. dClock is also rhythmically transcribed, but its regulators are unknown. vrille (vri) and Par Domain Protein 1 (Pdp1) encode related transcription factors whose expression is directly activated by dCLOCK/CYCLE. We show here that VRI and PDP1 proteins feed back and directly regulate dClock expression. Repression of dClock by VRI is separated from activation by PDP1 since VRI levels peak 3-6 hours before PDP1. Rhythmic vri transcription is required for molecular rhythms, and here we show that the clock stops in a Pdp1 null mutant, identifying Pdp1 as an essential clock gene. Thus, VRI and PDP1, together with dClock itself, comprise a second feedback loop in the Drosophila clock that gives rhythmic expression of dClock, and probably of other genes, to generate accurate circadian rhythms.

Electrical Silencing of Drosophila Pacemaker Neurons Stops the Free-Running Circadian Clock

Electrical silencing of Drosophila circadian pacemaker neurons through targeted expression of K+ channels causes severe deficits in free-running circadian locomotor rhythmicity in complete darkness. Pacemaker electrical silencing also stops the free-running oscillation of PERIOD (PER) and TIMELESS (TIM) proteins that constitutes the core of the cell-autonomous molecular clock. In contrast, electrical silencing fails to abolish PER and TIM oscillation in light-dark cycles, although it does impair rhythmic behavior. On the basis of these findings, we propose that electrical activity is an essential element of the free-running molecular clock of pacemaker neurons along with the transcription factors and regulatory enzymes that have been previously identified as required for clock function.

Cycling vrille Expression Is Required for a Functional Drosophila Clock

We identified a novel regulatory loop within Drosophilas circadian clock. A screen for clock-controlled genes recovered vrille (vri), a transcription factor essential for embryonic development. vri is expressed in circadian pacemaker cells in larval and adult brains. vri RNA levels oscillate with a circadian rhythm. Cycling is directly regulated by the transcription factors dCLOCK and CYCLE, which are also required for oscillations of period and timeless RNA. Eliminating the normal vri cycle suppresses period and timeless expression and causes long-period behavioral rhythms and arrhythmicity, indicating that cycling vri is required for a functional Drosophila clock. We also show that dCLOCK and VRI independently regulate levels of a neuropeptide, pigment dispersing factor, which appears to regulate overt behavior.

Three functional classes of transcriptional activation domains

We have studied the abilities of different transactivation domains to stimulate the initiation and elongation (postinitiation) steps of RNA polymerase II transcription in vivo. Nuclear run-on and RNase protection analyses revealed three classes of activation domains: Sp1 and CTF stimulated initiation (type I); human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Tat fused to a DNA binding domain stimulated predominantly elongation (type IIA); and VP16, p53, and E2F1 stimulated both initiation and elongation (type IIB). A quadruple point mutation of VP16 converted it from a type IIB to a type I activator. Type I and type IIA activators synergized with one another but not with type IIB activators. This observation implies that synergy can result from the concerted action of factors stimulating two different steps in transcription: initiation and elongation. The functional differences between activators may be explained by the different contacts they make with general transcription factors. In support of this idea, we found a correlation between the abilities of activators, including Tat, to stimulate elongation and their abilities to bind TFIIH.

The Double-Time Protein Kinase Regulates the Subcellular Localization of the Drosophila Clock Protein Period

The Period (PER), Timeless (TIM), and Double-Time (DBT) proteins are essential components of one feedback loop in the Drosophila circadian molecular clock. PER and TIM physically interact. Coexpression of PER and TIM promotes their nuclear accumulation and influences the activity of DBT: although DBT phosphorylates and destabilizes PER, this is suppressed by TIM. Experiments using Drosophila cells in culture have indicated that PER can translocate to the nucleus without TIM and will repress transcription in a DBT-potentiated manner. In this study, we examined the control of PER subcellular localization in Drosophila clock cells in vivo.We found that PER can translocate to the nucleus in tim01 null mutants but only if DBT kinase activity is inhibited. We also found that nuclear PER is a potent transcriptional repressor in dbt mutants in vivo without TIM. Thus, in vivo, DBT regulates PER subcellular localization, in addition to its previously documented role as a mediator of PER stability. However, DBT does not seem essential for transcriptional repression by PER. It was reported previously that overexpression of a second kinase, Shaggy (SGG)/Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3, accelerates PER nuclear accumulation. Here, we show that these effects of SGG on PER nuclear accumulation require TIM. We propose a revised clock model that incorporates this tight kinase regulation of PER and TIM nuclear entry.

Drosophila CRYPTOCHROME Is a Circadian Transcriptional Repressor

BACKGROUND Although most circadian clock components are conserved between Drosophila and mammals, the roles assigned to the CRYPTOCHROME (CRY) proteins are very different: Drosophila CRY functions as a circadian photoreceptor, whereas mammalian CRY proteins (mCRY1 and 2) are transcriptional repressors essential for molecular clock oscillations. RESULTS Here we demonstrate that Drosophila CRY also functions as a transcriptional repressor. We found that RNA levels of genes directly activated by the transcription factors CLOCK (CLK) and CYCLE (CYC) are derepressed in cry(b) mutant eyes. Conversely, while overexpression of CRY and PERIOD (PER) in the eye repressed CLK/CYC activity, neither PER nor CRY repressed individually. Drosophila CRY also repressed CLK/CYC activity in cell culture. Repression by CRY appears confined to peripheral clocks, since neither cry(b) mutants nor overexpression of PER and CRY together in pacemaker neurons significantly affected molecular or behavioral rhythms. Increasing CLK/CYC activity by removing two repressors, PER and CRY, led to ectopic expression of the timeless clock gene, similar to overexpression of Clk itself. CONCLUSIONS Drosophila CRY functions as a transcriptional repressor required for the oscillation of peripheral circadian clocks and for the correct specification of clock cells.

Circadian Pacemaker Neurons Transmit and Modulate Visual Information to Control a Rapid Behavioral Response

Circadian pacemaker neurons contain a molecular clock that oscillates with a period of approximately 24 hr, controlling circadian rhythms of behavior. Pacemaker neurons respond to visual system inputs for clock resetting, but, unlike other neurons, have not been reported to transmit rapid signals to their targets. Here we show that pacemaker neurons are required to mediate a rapid behavior. The Drosophila larval visual system, Bolwigs organ (BO), projects to larval pacemaker neurons to entrain their clock. BO also mediates larval photophobic behavior. We found that ablation or electrical silencing of larval pacemaker neurons abolished light avoidance. Thus, circadian pacemaker neurons receive input from BO not only to reset the clock but also to transmit rapid photophobic signals. Furthermore, as clock gene mutations also affect photophobicity, the pacemaker neurons modulate the sensitivity of larvae to light, generating a circadian rhythm in visual sensitivity.

Clock and cycle Limit Starvation-Induced Sleep Loss in Drosophila

Neural systems controlling the vital functions of sleep and feeding in mammals are tightly interconnected: sleep deprivation promotes feeding, whereas starvation suppresses sleep. Here we show that starvation in Drosophila potently suppresses sleep, suggesting that these two homeostatically regulated behaviors are also integrated in flies. The sleep-suppressing effect of starvation is independent of the mushroom bodies, a previously identified sleep locus in the fly brain, and therefore is regulated by distinct neural circuitry. The circadian clock genes Clock (Clk) and cycle (cyc) are critical for proper sleep suppression during starvation. However, the sleep suppression is independent of light cues and of circadian rhythms as shown by the fact that starved period mutants sleep like wild-type flies. By selectively targeting subpopulations of Clk-expressing neurons, we localize the observed sleep phenotype to the dorsally located circadian neurons. These findings show that Clk and cyc act during starvation to modulate the conflict of whether flies sleep or search for food.