Summary
NPAS2 is a hemeprotein and core circadian clock component whose transcriptional activity is regulated by gases (CO) and pyridine nucleotides, linking metabolic state to circadian timing. Understanding NPAS2's roles in metabolism, neurological function, cardiovascular health, and cancer has potential implications for designing lighting interventions that optimize circadian health and reduce disease risk.
Key Findings
- NPAS2 functions as a CO-dependent transcription factor with two heme-binding PAS domains (PAS-A and PAS-B), making it a key gas-responsive element of the molecular clock.
- NPAS2 gene expression oscillates with circadian rhythmicity and influences metabolic pathways, CNS function, cardiovascular processes, wound healing, and carcinogenesis.
- Review concludes that NPAS2 dysregulation is implicated in multiple pathological conditions, suggesting it as a potential biomarker or therapeutic target across several clinical fields.
Categories
Sleep & Circadian Health: NPAS2 is a core component of the molecular clock machinery, regulating circadian rhythmicity at a transcriptional level.
The Science of Light: The paper covers the mechanistic biology of a gas-responsive, light-entrained transcription factor central to circadian photobiology.
Author(s)
E Murgo, T Colangelo, MM Bellet, F Malatesta
Publication Year
2023
Related Publications
Sleep & Circadian Health
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- The twoāprocess model of sleep regulation: a reappraisal
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice
- Strange vision: ganglion cells as circadian photoreceptors
The Science of Light
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- Color appearance models
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- Diminished pupillary light reflex at high irradiances in melanopsin-knockout mice
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice