Time of feeding and the intrinsic circadian clock drive rhythms in hepatic gene expression

In mammals, the circadian oscillator generates approximately 24-h rhythms in feeding behavior, even under constant environmental conditions. Livers of mice held under constant darkness exhibit circadian rhythm in abundance in up to 15% of expressed transcripts. Therefore, oscillations in hepatic transcripts could be driven by rhythmic food intake or sustained by the hepatic circadian oscillator, or a combination of both. To address this question, we used distinct feeding and fasting paradigms on wild-type (WT) and circadian clock-deficient mice. We monitored temporal patterns of feeding and hepatic transcription. Both food availability and the temporal pattern of feeding determined the repertoire, phase, and…

• NI
  National Institutes of Health