Paraspeckles as rhythmic nuclear mRNA anchorages responsible for circadian gene expression

• Published in: Nucleus (Austin, Tex.) Vol. 8; no. 3; pp. 249 - 254
• Main Authors: Torres, Manon, Becquet, Denis, Blanchard, Marie-Pierre, Guillen, Séverine, Boyer, Bénédicte, Moreno, Mathias, Franc, Jean-Louis, François-Bellan, Anne-Marie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Taylor & Francis 04.05.2017
• Subjects: Animals; Cell Nucleus - metabolism; circadian oscillators; circadian rhythm; Circadian Rhythm - genetics; Extra View; Gene Expression Regulation; nuclear RNA retention; paraspeckle; Pituitary Gland - cytology; post-transcriptional mechanism; RNA, Messenger - genetics; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; post-transcriptional mechanism; circadian oscillators; nuclear RNA retention; circadian rhythm; paraspeckle
• ISSN: 1949-1034; 1949-1042
• DOI: 10.1080/19491034.2016.1277304

Circadian clocks regulate rhythmic gene expression levels by means of mRNA oscillations that are mainly driven by post-transcriptional regulation. We identified a new post-transcriptional mechanism, which involves nuclear bodies called paraspeckles. Major components of paraspeckles including the long noncoding RNA Neat1, which is the structural component, and its major protein partners, as well as the number of paraspeckles, follow a circadian pattern in pituitary cells. Paraspeckles are known to retain within the nucleus RNAs containing inverted repeats of Alu sequences. We showed that a reporter gene in which these RNA duplex elements were inserted in the 3'-UTR region displayed a circadian expression. Moreover, circadian endogenous mRNA associated with paraspeckles lost their circadian pattern when paraspeckles were disrupted. This work not only highlights a new paraspeckle-based post-transcriptional mechanism involved in circadian gene expression but also provides the list of all mRNA associated with paraspeckles in the nucleus of pituitary cells.