How can translational regulation and circadian rhythms connect?

Circadian clock transcripts show abundant translation of upstream open reading frames (uORFs), and cells deficient for the translation reinitiation factor DENR display shortened circadian period. A study published in Nucleic Acids Research by the Gatfield lab (University of Lausanne), in collaboration with the Pascolo (NCCR associate group at UZH) and Ule (UCL) labs, now reveals further links between translation reinitiation and circadian clocks. Ribosome profiling uncovered >200 DENR-regulated transcripts and identified sequence features predictive of DENR dependence. Among core clock genes, Clock itself was identified as a DENR target exhibiting strong translation on two uORFs, one of which elicits reinitiation from a so-far unannotated, alternative downstream CLOCK start codon.

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Website Gatfield Lab

Website Pascolo Lab