Circadian oscillation of a mammalian homologue of the Drosophila period gene

Hajime Tei (), Hitoshi Okamura, Yasufumi Shigeyoshi, Chiaki Fukuhara, Ritsuko Ozawa, Matsumi Hirose and Yoshiyuki Sakaki
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Hajime Tei: Human Genome Center, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo
Hitoshi Okamura: Kobe University School of Medicine
Yasufumi Shigeyoshi: Kobe University School of Medicine
Chiaki Fukuhara: The Scripps Research Institute
Ritsuko Ozawa: Human Genome Center, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo
Matsumi Hirose: Human Genome Center, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo
Yoshiyuki Sakaki: Human Genome Center, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo

Nature, 1997, vol. 389, issue 6650, 512-516

Abstract: Abstract Many biochemical, physiological and behavioural processes in organisms ranging from microorganisms to vertebrates exhibit circadian rhythms1. In Drosophila, the gene period (per) is required for the circadian rhythms of locomotor activity and eclosion behaviour2. Oscillation in the levels of per mRNA and Period (dPer) protein in the fly brain is thought to be responsible for the rhythmicity3,4. However, no per homologues in animals other than insects have been identified. Here we identify the human and mouse genes (hPER and mPer, respectively) encoding PAS-domain (PAS, a dimerization domain present in Per, Amt and Sim)-containing polypeptides that are highly homologous to dPer. Besides this structural resemblance, mPer shows autonomous circadian oscillation in its expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which is the primary circadian pacemaker in the mammalian brain5,6. Clock, a mammalian clock gene encoding a PAS-containing polypeptide7,8, has now been cloned: it is likely that the Per homologues dimerize with other molecule(s) such as Clock through PAS–PAS interaction in the circadian clock system.

Date: 1997
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DOI: 10.1038/39086

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