Expression patterns of clock genes in the hypothalamus and eye of two Lasiopodomys species

ABSTRACT

To investigate the relationship between light sensing systems in the eye and circadian oscillators in the hypothalamus of subterranean rodents, we studied subterranean Mandarin voles (Lasiopodomys mandarinus) that spend their entire lives under dark conditions with degenerated eyes, and compared oscillatory expression patterns of clock genes in the hypothalamus and eye between Mandarin voles and their aboveground relatives, Brandt’s voles (L. brandtii). Individuals of both vole species were kept under a 12-h light/12-h dark condition or continuous dark condition for 4 weeks. In both species, the expressions of most genes showed significant cosine rhythmicity in the hypothalamus but relatively weak rhythmicity in the eye. The number of rhythmic genes in the eye of Mandarin voles increased under the dark condition, but the opposite trend was observed in the eye of Brandt’s voles. The expression levels of most clock genes in the hypothalamus of both vole species did not significantly differ between the two conditions, but unlike in Mandarin voles, these expression levels significantly decreased in the eye of Brandt’s voles kept under the dark condition. In both vole species, the peak phase of most clock genes exhibited advanced or invariant change in the hypothalamus under the dark condition, and the peak phase of most clock genes showed consistent changes between the eye and hypothalamus of Mandarin voles. However, most clock genes in the eye showed a delayed phase in Brandt’s voles kept under the dark condition. In conclusion, the hypothalamus plays an important role in both vole species irrespective of the light condition. However, the expression patterns of clock genes in the eye differed between the vole species, indicating that each species adapted differently to their environments.