BMAL1
: Circadian clocks have been shown to be present in several fat tissues, including inguinal white adipose tissue, epididymal white adipose tissue, and brown adipose tissue [
45,
97,
98]. Recent transcriptome studies revealed rhythmic expression of clock and adipokine genes, such as resistin, adiponectin, and visfatin, in visceral fat tissue [
83]. Recent molecular studies established the involvement of BMAL1 activity in the control of adipogenesis and lipid metabolism in mature adipocytes. Embryonic fibroblasts from
Bmal1-/- knockout mice failed to differentiate into adipocytes. Loss of BMAL1 expression led to a significant decrease in adipogenesis and gene expression of several key adipogenic/lipogenic factors. Furthermore, over-expression of BMAL1 in adipocytes increased lipid synthesis activity. Thus, BMAL1, a master regulator of circadian rhythms, plays important roles in the regulation of adipose differentiation and lipogenesis in mature adipocytes [
99].
REV-ERBα
: Another important candidate to link the circadian clock with lipid metabolism is REV-ERBα. This pro-adipogenic transcription factor, whose levels increase dramatically during adipocyte differentiation [
100], exhibits striking diurnal variations in expression in murine adipose tissue [
101] and rat liver [
102]. During adipocyte differentiation, REV-ERBα acts downstream of the differentiation factor peroxisome proliferator receptor-γ (PPARγ) by facilitating gene expression of PPARγ target genes [
103,
104]. Ectopic REV-ERBα expression in 3T3L1 pre-adipocytes promotes their differentiation into mature adipocytes [
103]. In addition to its role in lipid metabolism and adipocyte differentiation, REV-ERBα is a component of the core clock apparatus, as mentioned above (Figure ). It acts as a negative regulator of
Bmal1 expression, and its encoding gene,
Rev-erbα, is directly activated by the CLOCK:BMAL1 heterodimer [
68].
PPARα
: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) is a member of the nuclear receptor family that plays a unique role at the intersection of circadian and lipid metabolic pathways. The CLOCK:BMAL heterodimer mediates the expression of PPARα, which subsequently binds to the peroxisome-proliferator response element (PPRE) and activates transcription of
Bmal1 [
105-
107] (Figure ). PPARα also regulates transcription of genes involved in lipid and glucose metabolism upon binding of endogenous free fatty acids [
108,
109]. Thus the circadian rhythmicity of PPARα provides an example of a reciprocal link between circadian and lipid metabolic processes.
PPARγ coactivator (PGC-1α)
: PGC-1α, a transcriptional co-activator that regulates energy metabolism, is rhythmically expressed in the liver and skeletal muscle of mice. PGC-1α stimulates the expression of
Bmal1 and
Rev-erbα, through co-activation of the ROR family of orphan nuclear receptors [
110,
111] (Figure ). Mice lacking PGC-1α show abnormal diurnal rhythms of activity, body temperature, and metabolic rate, due to aberrant expression of clock genes and those involved in energy metabolism. Analyses of PGC-1α-deficient fibroblasts and mice with liver-specific knockdown of PGC-1α indicate that it is required for cell-autonomous clock function [
110].
AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)
: AMPK could be another important link that integrates the circadian clock with metabolism. AMPK is a sensor of the energy status within cells, which upon activation acts to restore energy balance [
112,
113]. This is done in part by modulating NAD
+ levels and SIRT1 activity [
114,
115]. AMPK has been found to directly phosphorylate Ser-389 of CKIε in Rat-1 fibroblasts, resulting in increased CKIε activity and degradation of mPER2 (Figure ). mPER2 degradation led to a phase advance in the circadian expression pattern of clock genes [
116]. AMPK has also been shown to phosphorylate and destabilize mCRY1 in mouse fibroblasts, leading to altered circadian rhythms [
117] (Figure ). In addition, the expression profile of clock-related genes, such as
Per1 and
Cry2 in skeletal muscle, as well as the diurnal shift in energy utilization, is impaired in AMPKγ
3 subunit knockout mice in response to 5-amino-4-imidazole-carboxamide riboside (AICAR), an AMPK activator [
118]. In addition to its intracellular role, AMPK is involved in whole body energy metabolism by regulating the response to feeding in the hypothalamus [
112]. In this brain area, AMPK activation is inhibited by leptin and insulin, hormones which suppress feeding, whereas it is activated under starvation by ghrelin, a hormone primarily produced by the stomach that leads to increased food intake [
119-
122].
SIRT1
: Another protein recently found to link metabolism
with the circadian clock is SIRT1. This is the mammalian ortholog of yeast
Sir2, an NAD
+-dependent histone deacetylase involved in
transcriptional silencing and genome stability in yeast [
123,
124]. Sir2 or its
ortholog enzymes are involved in life span extension and the response to
caloric restriction in yeast,
Caenorhabditis
elegans,
Drosophila [
123,
125], and mice [
115,
126]. The dependence on NAD
+ as a cofactor for catalysis is thought
to link SIRT1 activity to the energy state of the cell [
127]. Non-histone
substrates of SIRT1, as found in C2C12 myotubes, include regulatory molecules
that modulate energy metabolism, such as PPARγ and PGC-1α [
114], key
factors that regulate the core molecular clock (Figure ). Recent studies showthat SIRT1 interacts directly with CLOCK and
deacetylates BMAL1 and PER2 in cultured fibroblasts [
128,
129] (Figure ). It
seems that after binding to E-box, CLOCK and CBP/p300 acetylate histones H3 and
H4 [
57] and BMAL1 [
130]. BMAL1 acetylation potentiates its binding by the
repressive PER/CRY complex [
130] and, as a result, PER2 is acetylated [
128].
When acetylated, PER2 [
128] and possibly BMAL1 [
129] are more stable. SIRT1
then becomes activated and deacetylates BMAL1, PER2, and histones [
131].
Deacetylated PER2 is further phosphorylated and degraded and a new cycle begins
(Figure ). It has also been shown that the CLOCK:BMAL1 heterodimer regulates
the circadian expression of NAMPT (nicotinamide phosphoribosyl-transferase), a
rate-limiting enzyme in the NAD
+ salvage pathway. SIRT1 is recruited
to the
Nampt promoter and contributes to the circadian synthesis of its
own coenzyme [
132]. Most recently, it has been shown that AMPK enhances SIRT1
activity by increasing cellular NAD
+ levels, resulting in the
deacetylation and modulation of the activity of downstream SIRT1 targets [
114].
Thus, the levels of NAD
+ together with the cycling of SIRT1 can
determine the activity and robustness of clock gene transcription at least in
cultured cells.