10.18452/20954
Castellana, Stefano
Stefano
Castellana
Mazza, Tommaso
Tommaso
Mazza
Capocefalo, Daniele
Daniele
Capocefalo
Genov, Nikolai
Nikolai
Genov
Biagini, Tommaso
Tommaso
Biagini
Fusilli, Caterina
Caterina
Fusilli
Scholkmann, Felix
Felix
Scholkmann
Relógio, Angela
Angela
Relógio
Hogenesch, John B.
John B.
Hogenesch
Mazzoccoli, Gianluigi Ubaldo
Gianluigi Ubaldo
Mazzoccoli
Systematic Analysis of Mouse Genome Reveals Distinct Evolutionary and Functional Properties Among Circadian and Ultradian Genes
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
2018
CreativeWork
clock
gene
evolution
rhythmicity
circadian
ultradian
610 Medizin und Gesundheit
Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin
Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin
2019-12-17
2019-12-17
2018-08-23
2019-10-08
en
http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/18452/21706
urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-110-18452/21706-0
1664-042X
(CC BY 4.0) Attribution 4.0 International
In living organisms, biological clocks regulate 24 h (circadian) molecular, physiological, and behavioral rhythms to maintain homeostasis and synchrony with predictable environmental changes, in particular with those induced by Earth’s rotation on its axis. Harmonics of these circadian rhythms having periods of 8 and 12 h (ultradian) have been documented in several species. In mouse liver, harmonics of the 24-h period of gene transcription hallmarked genes oscillating with a frequency two or three times faster than circadian periodicity. Many of these harmonic transcripts enriched pathways regulating responses to environmental stress and coinciding preferentially with subjective dawn and dusk. At this time, the evolutionary history of genes with rhythmic expression is still poorly known and the role of length-of-day changes due to Earth’s rotation speed decrease over the last four billion years is totally ignored. We hypothesized that ultradian and stress anticipatory genes would be more evolutionarily conserved than circadian genes and background non-oscillating genes. To investigate this issue, we performed broad computational analyses of genes/proteins oscillating at different frequency ranges across several species and showed that ultradian genes/proteins, especially those oscillating with a 12-h periodicity, are more likely to be of ancient origin and essential in mice. In summary, our results show that genes with ultradian transcriptional patterns are more likely to be phylogenetically conserved and associated with the primeval and inevitable dawn/dusk transitions.