Transcriptional control is an important regulator of circadian time-keeping; however, the role of post-transcriptional control in this process remains to be fully elucidated. Now, two studies in Drosophila melanogaster show that Ataxin-2 (Atx2) promotes the translation of Period (Per) — a crucial driver of circadian rhythms — in circadian pacemaker neurons. Both studies found that RNAi-mediated knockdown of Atx2 expression in circadian pacemaker neurons lengthened the circadian periods of locomotor behaviour of flies that were kept under constant darkness and also increased the arrhythmicity of these periods. Further investigation revealed that these effects were associated with a decrease in the abundance of Per. The protein Twenty-four (Tyf) is known to activate Per translation. Both studies found that Atx2 and Tyf can be found together in protein complexes and that Atx2 is required for Tyf-induced translation of Per.
Change history
13 June 2013
The protein Twenty-four (Tyf) was incorrectly abbreviated as 'Tyr'. This has been corrected on both html and pdf versions.
References
Lim, C. & Allada, R. ATAXIN-2 activates PERIOD translation to sustain circadian rhythms in Drosophila. Science 340, 875–879 (2013)
Zhang, Y. et al. A role for Drosophila ATX2 in activation of PER translation and circadian behavior. Science 340, 879–882 (2013)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yates, D. Translating time-keeping. Nat Rev Neurosci 14, 456 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3535
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3535