Circadian cycle-dependent MeCP2 and brain chromatin changes

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 10; no. 4; p. e0123693
• Main Authors: Martínez de Paz, Alexia, Sanchez-Mut, Jose Vicente, Samitier-Martí, Mireia, Petazzi, Paolo, Sáez, Mauricio, Szczesna, Karolina, Huertas, Dori, Esteller, Manel, Ausió, Juan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 13.04.2015; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animals; Autism; Biology; Biomedical research; Brain; Brain - metabolism; Brain architecture; Brain research; Cancer; Cerebral Cortex - metabolism; Chromatin; Chromatin - metabolism; Circadian rhythm; Circadian Rhythm - genetics; Circadian rhythms; CLOCK Proteins - metabolism; Cromatina; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA methylation; Epigenetics; Expressió gènica; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Genomes; Light; MeCP2 protein; Methyl-CpG binding protein; Methyl-CpG-Binding Protein 2 - metabolism; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Neurosciences; Physiology; Promoter Regions, Genetic - genetics; Protein binding; Proteins; Rett syndrome; Ritmes circadiaris; Sleep; Sleep disorders; United States > US; Spain
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0123693

Methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2) is a chromosomal protein of the brain, very abundant especially in neurons, where it plays an important role in the regulation of gene expression. Hence it has the potential to be affected by the mammalian circadian cycle. We performed expression analyses of mice brain frontal cortices obtained at different time points and we found that the levels of MeCP2 are altered circadianly, affecting overall organization of brain chromatin and resulting in a circadian-dependent regulation of well-stablished MeCP2 target genes. Furthermore, this data suggests that alterations of MeCP2 can be responsible for the sleeping disorders arising from pathological stages, such as in autism and Rett syndrome.