Rhythmic potassium transport regulates the circadian clock in human red blood cells
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Circadian rhythms organize many aspects of cell biology and physiology to a daily temporal program that depends on clock gene expression cycles in most mammalian cell types. However, circadian rhythms are also observed in isolated mammalian red blood cells (RBCs), which lack nuclei, suggesting the existence of post-translational cellular clock mechanisms in these cells. Here we show using electrophysiological and pharmacological approaches that human RBCs display circadian regulation of membrane conductance and cytoplasmic conductivity that depends on the cycling of cytoplasmic K+ levels. Using pharmacological intervention and ion replacement, we show that inhibition of K+ transport abolishes RBC electrophysiological rhythms. Our results suggest that in the absence of conventional transcription cycles, RBCs maintain a circadian rhythm in membrane electrophysiology through dynamic regulation of K+ transport.
Date Issued
2017-12-07
Date Acceptance
2017-11-10
Citation
Nature Communications, 2017, 8 (1), pp.1978-1978
ISSN
2041-1723
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Start Page
1978
End Page
1978
Journal / Book Title
Nature Communications
Volume
8
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give
appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative
Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party
material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless
indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the
article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory
regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from
the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/4.0/.
© The Author(s) 2017
Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give
appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative
Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party
material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless
indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the
article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory
regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from
the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/4.0/.
© The Author(s) 2017
License URL
Identifier
PII: 10.1038/s41467-017-02161-4
Subjects
Science & Technology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Science & Technology - Other Topics
REVEALS PERSISTENT
IN-VITRO
MEMBRANE
PROTEIN
DIELECTROPHORESIS
EXCITABILITY
MODEL
OSCILLATIONS
MITOCHONDRIA
MAGNESIUM
Circadian Clocks
Circadian Rhythm
Electrophysiological Phenomena
Erythrocytes
Humans
Peroxiredoxins
Potassium
RNA, Messenger
Transcription, Genetic
Erythrocytes
Humans
Potassium
RNA, Messenger
Transcription, Genetic
Circadian Rhythm
Peroxiredoxins
Electrophysiological Phenomena
Circadian Clocks
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
1978
Date Publish Online
2017-12-07