Arabidopsis sirtuins and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases regulate gene expression in the day but do not affect circadian rhythms.

Nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide (NAD) is involved in redox homeostasis and acts as a substrate for NADases, including poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs) that add poly(ADP-ribose) polymers to proteins and DNA, and sirtuins that deacetylate proteins. Nicotinamide, a by-product of NADases increases circadian period in both plants and animals. In mammals, the effect of nicotinamide on circadian period might be mediated by the PARPs and sirtuins because they directly bind to core circadian oscillator genes. We have investigated whether PARPs and sirtuins contribute to the regulation of the circadian oscillator in Arabidopsis. We found no evidence that PARPs and sirtuins regulate the circadian oscillator of Arabidopsis or are involved in the response to nicotinamide. RNA-seq analysis indicated that PARPs regulate the expression of only a few genes, including FLOWERING LOCUS C. However, we found profound effects of reduced sirtuin 1 expression on gene expression during the day but not at night, and an embryo lethal phenotype in knockouts. Our results demonstrate that PARPs and sirtuins are not associated with NAD regulation of the circadian oscillator and that sirtuin 1 is associated with daytime regulation of gene expression.