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Modification of the Per2 clock gene in mPer2Luc reporter mice significantly alters circadian function. Behavioral period in constant dark is lengthened, and dissociates into two distinct components in constant light. Rhythms exhibit increased bimodality, enhanced phase resetting to light pulses, and altered entrainment to scheduled feeding. Mechanistic mathematical modelling predicts that enhanced protein interactions with the modified mPER2 C-terminus, combined with differential clock regulation among SCN subregions, can account for effects on circadian behavior via increased Per2 transcript and protein stability. PER2::LUC produces greater suppression of CLOCK:BMAL1 E-box activity than PER2. mPer2Luc carries a 72 bp deletion in exon 23 of Per2, and retains a neomycin resistance cassette that affects rhythm amplitude but not period. The results show that mPer2Luc acts as a circadian clock mutation illustrating a need for detailed assessment of potential impacts of c-terminal tags in genetically modified animal models., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Among the scientific resources that Colin Pittendrigh passed on to his colleagues after his death in 1996 were two unpublished papers. These manuscripts, developed first in the mid-1960s and continually updated and refined through the late 1970s, centered on the development and experimental exploration of a model of circadian entrainment combining aspects of the well-known parametric (continuous) and nonparametric (discrete) models of entrainment. These texts reveal the experimental work surrounding Pittendrigh's determination of the limits of entrainment and the explanation of the bistability phenomenon. These manuscripts are being made publicly available in their final format (February 1978) as supplementary material to this introduction.

Cellular life emerged ∼3.7 billion years ago. With scant exception, terrestrial organisms have evolved under predictable daily cycles owing to the Earth's rotation. The advantage conferred on organisms that anticipate such environmental cycles has driven the evolution of endogenous circadian rhythms that tune internal physiology to external conditions. The molecular phylogeny of mechanisms driving these rhythms has been difficult to dissect because identified clock genes and proteins are not conserved across the domains of life: Bacteria, Archaea and Eukaryota. Here we show that oxidation-reduction cycles of peroxiredoxin proteins constitute a universal marker for circadian rhythms in all domains of life, by characterizing their oscillations in a variety of model organisms. Furthermore, we explore the interconnectivity between these metabolic cycles and transcription-translation feedback loops of the clockwork in each system. Our results suggest an intimate co-evolution of cellular timekeeping with redox homeostatic mechanisms after the Great Oxidation Event ∼2.5 billion years ago.

Background: The circadian clock of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus can be reconstituted in vitro by three proteins, KaiA, KaiB and KaiC. Homo-hexameric KaiC displays kinase, phosphatase and ATPase activities; KaiA enhances KaiC phosphorylation and KaiB antagonizes KaiA. Phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of the two known sites in the C-terminal half of KaiC subunits, T432 and S431, follow a strict order (TS-->pTS-->pTpS-->TpS-->TS) over the daily cycle, the origin of which is not understood. To address this void and to analyze the roles of KaiC active site residues, in particular T426, we determined structures of single and double P-site mutants of S. elongatus KaiC., Methodology and Principal Findings: The conformations of the loop region harboring P-site residues T432 and S431 in the crystal structures of six KaiC mutant proteins exhibit subtle differences that result in various distances between Thr (or Ala/Asn/Glu) and Ser (or Ala/Asp) residues and the ATP gamma-phosphate. T432 is phosphorylated first because it lies consistently closer to Pgamma. The structures of the S431A and T432E/S431A mutants reveal phosphorylation at T426. The environments of the latter residue in the structures and functional data for T426 mutants in vitro and in vivo imply a role in dephosphorylation., Conclusions and Significance: We provide evidence for a third phosphorylation site in KaiC at T426. T426 and S431 are closely spaced and a KaiC subunit cannot carry phosphates at both sites simultaneously. Fewer subunits are phosphorylated at T426 in the two KaiC mutants compared to phosphorylated T432 and/or S431 residues in the structures of wt and other mutant KaiCs, suggesting that T426 phosphorylation may be labile. The structures combined with functional data for a host of KaiC mutant proteins help rationalize why S431 trails T432 in the loss of its phosphate and shed light on the mechanisms of the KaiC kinase, ATPase and phosphatase activities.

The circadian clock of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus can be reconstituted in vitro by the KaiA, KaiB and KaiC proteins in the presence of ATP. The principal clock component, KaiC, undergoes regular cycles between hyper- and hypo-phosphorylated states with a period of ca. 24 h that is temperature compensated. KaiA enhances KaiC phosphorylation and this enhancement is antagonized by KaiB. Throughout the cycle Kai proteins interact in a dynamic manner to form complexes of different composition. We present a three-dimensional model of the S. elongatus KaiB-KaiC complex based on X-ray crystallography, negative-stain and cryo-electron microscopy, native gel electrophoresis and modelling techniques. We provide experimental evidence that KaiB dimers interact with KaiC from the same side as KaiA and for a conformational rearrangement of the C-terminal regions of KaiC subunits. The enlarged central channel and thus KaiC subunit separation in the C-terminal ring of the hexamer is consistent with KaiC subunit exchange during the dephosphorylation phase. The proposed binding mode of KaiB explains the observation of simultaneous binding of KaiA and KaiB to KaiC, and provides insight into the mechanism of KaiB's antagonism of KaiA.

Plants have circadian oscillations in the concentration of cytosolic free calcium ([Ca(2+)](cyt)). To dissect the circadian Ca(2+)-signaling network, we monitored circadian [Ca(2+)](cyt) oscillations under various light/dark conditions (including different spectra) in Arabidopsis thaliana wild type and photoreceptor and circadian clock mutants. Both red and blue light regulate circadian oscillations of [Ca(2+)](cyt). Red light signaling is mediated by PHYTOCHROME B (PHYB). Blue light signaling occurs through the redundant action of CRYPTOCHROME1 (CRY1) and CRY2. Blue light also increases the basal level of [Ca(2+)](cyt), and this response requires PHYB, CRY1, and CRY2. Light input into the oscillator controlling [Ca(2+)](cyt) rhythms is gated by EARLY FLOWERING3. Signals generated in the dark also regulate the circadian behavior of [Ca(2+)](cyt). Oscillations of [Ca(2+)](cyt) and CHLOROPHYLL A/B BINDING PROTEIN2 (CAB2) promoter activity are dependent on the rhythmic expression of LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL and CIRCADIAN CLOCK-ASSOCIATED1, but [Ca(2+)](cyt) and CAB2 promoter activity are uncoupled in the timing of cab1 (toc1-1) mutant but not in toc1-2. We suggest that the circadian oscillations of [Ca(2+)](cyt) and CAB2 promoter activity are regulated by distinct oscillators with similar components that are used in a different manner and that these oscillators may be located in different cell types in Arabidopsis.

The cyanobacterial circadian clock can be reconstituted in vitro by mixing recombinant KaiA, KaiB and KaiC proteins with ATP, producing KaiC phosphorylation and dephosphorylation cycles that have a regular rhythm with a ca. 24-h period and are temperature-compensated. KaiA and KaiB are modulators of KaiC phosphorylation, whereby KaiB antagonizes KaiA's action. Here, we present a complete crystallographic model of the Synechococcus elongatus KaiC hexamer that includes previously unresolved portions of the C-terminal regions, and a negative-stain electron microscopy study of S. elongatus and Thermosynechococcus elongatus BP-1 KaiA-KaiC complexes. Site-directed mutagenesis in combination with EM reveals that KaiA binds exclusively to the CII half of the KaiC hexamer. The EM-based model of the KaiA-KaiC complex reveals protein-protein interactions at two sites: the known interaction of the flexible C-terminal KaiC peptide with KaiA, and a second postulated interaction between the apical region of KaiA and the ATP binding cleft on KaiC. This model brings KaiA mutation sites that alter clock period or abolish rhythmicity into contact with KaiC and suggests how KaiA might regulate KaiC phosphorylation.