Differential Control of Bmal1 Circadian Transcription by REV-ERB and ROR Nuclear Receptors

Circadian rhythms result from feedback loops involving clock genes and their protein products. In mammals, 2 orphan nuclear receptors, REV-ERBalpha and RORalpha, play important roles in the transcription of the clock gene Bmal1. The authors now considerably extend these findings with the demonstration that all members of the REV-ERB (alpha and beta) and ROR (alpha, beta, and gamma) families repress and activate Bmal1 transcription, respectively. The authors further show that transcription of Bmal1 is the result of competition between REV-ERBs and RORs at their specific response elements (RORE). Moreover, they demonstrate that Reverb genes are similarly expressed in the thymus, skeletal muscle, and kidney,…

• IN
  Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale
• FP
  Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale
• NS
  Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada