Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 109, Issue 17, Pages 6757-6762Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1118814109
Keywords
intercellular signaling; coupled oscillators; systems biology; plant physiology; gene regulatory networks
Categories
Funding
- Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, France
- Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance
- European Commission [245143]
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [D019621]
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/D019621/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- BBSRC [BB/D019621/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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The circadian clocks that drive daily rhythms in animals are tightly coupled among the cells of some tissues. The coupling profoundly affects cellular rhythmicity and is central to contemporary understanding of circadian physiology and behavior. In contrast, studies of the clock in plant cells have largely ignored intercellular coupling, which is reported to be very weak or absent. We used luciferase reporter gene imaging to monitor circadian rhythms in leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana plants, achieving resolution close to the cellular level. Leaves grown without environmental cycles for up to 3 wk reproducibly showed spatiotemporal waves of gene expression consistent with intercellular coupling, using several reporter genes. Within individual leaves, different regions differed in phase by up to 17 h. A broad range of patterns was observed among leaves, rather than a common spatial distribution of circadian properties. Leaves exposed to light-dark cycles always had fully synchronized rhythms, which could desynchronize rapidly. After 4 d in constant light, some leaves were as desynchronized as leaves grown without any rhythmic input. Applying light-dark cycles to such a leaf resulted in full synchronization within 2-4 d. Thus, the rhythms of all cells were coupled to external light-dark cycles far more strongly than the cellular clocks were coupled to each other. Spontaneous desynchronization under constant conditions was limited, consistent with weak intercellular coupling among heterogeneous clocks. Both the weakness of coupling and the heterogeneity among cells are relevant to interpret molecular studies and to understand the physiological functions of the plant circadian clock.
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