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  • The EMBO Journal (1998) 17, 4753 - 4759
  • doi:10.1093/emboj/17.16.4753

A light-independent oscillatory gene mPer3 in mouse SCN and OVLT

Toru Takumi1,2, Kouji Taguchi1, Shigeru Miyake1, Yoko Sakakida1, Naoyuki Takashima1, Chiaki Matsubara1,2, Yoshiro Maebayashi1, Ko Okumura2,3, Seiichi Takekida1, Shuzo Yamamoto1, Kazuhiro Yagita1, Lily Yan1, Michael W. Young4 and Hitoshi Okamura1

  1. Department of Anatomy and Brain Science, Kobe University School of Medicine, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0017, Japan
  2. CREST, Japan Science and Technology Corporation, Juntendo University, School of Medicine, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan
  3. Department of Immunology, Juntendo University, School of Medicine, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan
  4. Laboratory of Genetics, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021, USA

Correspondence to:

Hitoshi Okamura, E-mail: okamurah@kobe-u.ac.jp

Received 8 May 1998; Accepted 19 June 1998; Revised 19 June 1998

A new member of the mammalian period gene family, mPer3, was isolated and its expression pattern characterized in the mouse brain. Like mPer1, mPer2 and Drosophila period, mPer3 has a dimerization PAS domain and a cytoplasmic localization domain. mPer3 transcripts showed a clear circadian rhythm in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Expression of mPer3 was not induced by exposure to light at any phase of the clock, distinguishing this gene from mPer1 and mPer2. Cycling expression of mPer3 was also found outside the SCN in the organum vasculosum lamina terminalis (OVLT), a potentially key region regulating rhythmic gonadotropin production and pyrogen-induced febrile phenomena. Thus, mPer3 may contribute to pacemaker functions both inside and outside the SCN.

  • Keywords:

    • circadian rhythm,
    • mammalian clock gene,
    • organum vasculosum lamina terminalis (OVLT),
    • period,
    • suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)