Yue Min, Yang Yu, Guo Gai Li, Qin Xi Ming
Institute of Health Sciences, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China.
School of Life Sciences, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China.
Yi Chuan. 2017 Dec 20;39(12):1122-1137. doi: 10.16288/j.yczz.17-350.
The circadian clocks are vital to many organisms for their survival and adaption to the surrounding environment. More and more people are interested in the circadian clock and related researches. One of the key characteristics of this endogenous clock is its periodicity. Mechanisms underlying the mammalian circadian rhythms with ~24 h periodicity involve interlocked transcriptional and translational feedback loops. The circadian clock system in mammals consists of hierarchical structures, with the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) as the central pacemaker and peripheral oscillators in other organs. In spite of the central and peripheral oscillators, the molecular mechanisms are the same within the SCN and peripheral organs. In the past decades, major achievements are accomplished by using forward and reverse genetics, as well as epigenetic approaches. In this review, we recapitulate the history of how clock-related genes were identified, and summarize the main achievements in genetics and epigenetics to understand the molecular underpinnings. We hope it can offer basic knowledge for further researches, a reference for experimental designs aiming to adjust organisms' homeostasis by modulating the clock, and provide a foundation to build interdisciplinary research networks.
昼夜节律时钟对许多生物体的生存和适应周围环境至关重要。越来越多的人对昼夜节律时钟及相关研究感兴趣。这种内源性时钟的关键特征之一是其周期性。哺乳动物约24小时周期性的昼夜节律背后的机制涉及相互连锁的转录和翻译反馈回路。哺乳动物的昼夜节律时钟系统由层次结构组成，视交叉上核（SCN）作为中央起搏器，其他器官中存在外周振荡器。尽管存在中央和外周振荡器，但SCN和外周器官内的分子机制是相同的。在过去几十年中，通过正向和反向遗传学以及表观遗传学方法取得了重大成就。在本综述中，我们概述了时钟相关基因是如何被鉴定的历史，并总结了遗传学和表观遗传学方面的主要成就，以了解其分子基础。我们希望它能为进一步的研究提供基础知识，为旨在通过调节时钟来调整生物体稳态的实验设计提供参考，并为建立跨学科研究网络奠定基础。
