PRESSRELEASE
Righttimingiscrucialinlife
Vienna,November21st2016
Whatmarinemidgescantellusaboutclocksandcalendars
Humans,aswellasmanyotherorganisms,possessinternalclocks.Theexacttiming,however,candiffer
betweenindividuals–forinstance,somepeopleareearlyriserswhereasothersare"nightowls".
NeurobiologistKristinTessmar-RaibleandherteamattheMaxF.PerutzLaboratories(MFPL)ofthe
UniversityofViennaandMedicalUniversityofViennainvestigatedthatunderliesuchtimingvariations
or"chronotypes".Thenon-bitingmidgeCluniomarinushastwointernalclocks,sinceittimesits
reproductionaccordingtosunandmoon.TheteamaroundTessmar-RaibleandPostdocTobiasKaiser
werenowabletoidentifyrelevantgenesforthisadaptation,andpublishedtheirresultsinthecurrent
issueof"Nature".
Thenon-bitingmarinemidgeCluniomarinuslivesalongEurope'stide-shapencoasts,whereprecisetiming
isofexistentialimportance:Reproductionandovipositionmustoccurwhenthetideisatitslowest.The
tides,andthereforealsolowtide,areinfluencedbyboththesunandthemoon.Toforeseetheidealtime
ofreproduction,Cluniohastwointernalclocks:acircadian(daily)clock,comparabletoawatch,setbythe
sun,andacircalunar(monthly)clock,comparabletoacalendar,setbythemoon.
Duetogeographicalcauses,thetimingoflowtidesdiffersbetweengeographicallocations.Therefore,the
midgeshaveto"set"theirclocksinaccordancewiththeirposition.Scientistshadalreadydiscoveredinthe
1960sthatmidgeslivingalongthecoastoftheAtlanticseahavegeneticallyadaptedtheircircadianclocks
tothelocaloccurrenceoftides.
KristinTessmar-Raibleandherteamtheninvestigatedhowsuchadaptationsmayoccuronamolecular
level.Theworkwasspear-headedbythepost-docTobiasKaiser,whohadpreviouslyalreadyuncovered
thatsimilaradaptationsarealsotrueforcircalunarclocks.
TobiassequencedandcompareddifferentCluniogenomesinatightcollaborationwithArndtvon
Haeseler'sgroup.Thisallowedtheresearcherstounravelthegenomicsequencesthatlikelyunderliethe
circadianandcircalunartimingdifferences.FurthermolecularworkinvolvingVBCPhDstudentBirgitPoehn
andcollaborationswithThomasHummel's(FacultyofLifeSciences,UniversityofVienna)andFlorian
Heyd'sgroups(FUBerlin,Germany)thenprovidedafirstmechanisticmodel,howsuchmolecular
adaptationscanleadtodifferentialcircadiantiming.
Theresearcher'sresultspointtowardsaspecificprotein,calledCalcium/Calmodlin-dependentkinaseII
(CaMKII),beingthemaineffectorbehindtheadaptationofthecircadianclocktothegeographical
environment."DifferentvariantsofCaMKIIappeartoletthecircadianclockruneitherfasterorslower,"
explainsTessmar-Raible."Anditisofcourseaninterestingaspectthatthisprotein,whichhasn’tchanged
muchduringthecourseofevolution,canalsobefoundinhumans.Thequestionthereforeemerges,if
CaMKIIcanalsoplayaroleinhumanchronotypes."
Remarkably,theproteinCAMKIIisoneofthemostabundantproteinsinthehumanbrainandhasalready
beenlinkedtoneuropsychiatricdisorders,whichoftenappearinconjunctionwithmalfunctionsofthe
circadianclock."Ourstudyraisesmanyintriguingquestions–apartfromthemodulationofthecircadian
clock,italsosuggestsmolecularcandidatesforthemodulationofthe'internalcalendar',thelunarclock.
MAXF.PERUTZLABORATORIES
ViennaBiocenter(VBC,)Dr.Bohr-Gasse9|1030Wien|Austria
Tel:+431427724014
[email protected]|www.mfpl.ac.at
TheMaxF.PerutzLaboratoriesareajointventureof
PRESSRELEASE
Andinunderstandingtheselockswearestillattheverybeginning,"commentsTobiasKaiser.Hewill
pursuethisquestionwithhisgroupattheMax-Planck-InstituteforEvolutionaryBiologyinPlön.
Publicationin"Nature"
TobiasS.Kaiser,BirgitPoehn,DavidSzkiba,MarcoPreussner,FritzJ.Sedlazeck,AlexanderZrim,Tobias
Neumann,Lam-TungNguyen,AndreaJ.Betancourt,ThomasHummel,HeikoVogel,SilkeDorner,Florian
Heyd,ArndtvonHaeseler,KristinTessmar-Raible.Thegenomicbasisofcircadianandcircalunartiming
adaptationsinamidge.DOI10.1038/nature20151
Scientificcontacts
Univ.-Prof.Dr.KristinTessmar-Raible
MaxF.PerutzLaboratories
UniversityofVienna
ViennaBiocenter
1030Vienna,Dr.-Bohr-Gasse9
T+43-1-4277-74635
M+43-664-60277-74635
[email protected]
Dr.TobiasKaiser
MaxPlanckInstitutfürEvolutionsbiologie
24306Plön,August-Thienemann-Str.2
T+49-4522-763224
[email protected]
Presscontact
CaterinaPurini,MSc.
MaxF.PerutzLaboratories
Communications
ViennaBiocenter
1030Vienna,Dr.-Bohr-Gasse9
T+43-1-4277-24014
M+43-664-60277-52877
[email protected]
Platform"RhythmsofLife"
Since2013,theUniversityofViennahassupportedresearchintothe“RhythmsofLife”byfundingan
interdisciplinaryresearchplatformthatinvolvesscientistsattheMaxF.PerutzLaboratories(MFPL),the
facultyforLifeSciencesandthefacultyofChemistry.UniversityResearchPlatformsfacilitatecollaborations
betweendifferentUniversityfacultiesorcenters.Resultsfromtheseprojectsoftentimesconstitutethe
basisforlargersuccessfulgrantapplications.
AbouttheMFPL
TheMaxF.PerutzLaboratories(MFPL)areacenterestablishedbytheUniversityofViennaandtheMedical
UniversityofViennatoprovideanenvironmentforexcellent,internationallyrecognizedresearchand
educationinthefieldofMolecularBiology.TheMFPLarelocatedattheViennaBiocenter,oneofthe
largestLifeSciencesclustersinAustria,andhostonaverage60independentresearchgroups,involving
morethan500peoplefrom40nations.
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