Project description
How the biological clock reshapes the cell nucleus over 24 hours
Almost all living organisms possess an internal biological clock that responds to daily environmental cycles by coordinating gene expression, metabolism, and physiology. Disruptions to these rhythms increase the risk of diabetes, cancer, and neurodegeneration. While the molecular mechanisms driving circadian rhythms are well studied, how the physical organisation of the cell nucleus changes across the 24-hour cycle remains largely unexplored. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the CHLAMYRHYTHMS project aims to investigate circadian control of nuclear architecture and gene expression. The study will employ the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as a model and combine transcriptomics, proteomics, and time-resolved cryo-electron tomography to obtain insight into the role of the biological clock in cellular organisation throughout the day.
Objective
Almost all life on Earth has a circadian clock to anticipate and adapt to daily environmental cycles by rhythmically regulating gene expression, protein levels, metabolism, and physiology. Disruptions to these rhythms in humans, like shift workers and frequent flyers, increase the risks of diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. While the transcriptional-translational feedback loop that regulates rhythmic expression has been extensively studied, far less is known about how nuclear architecture and gene expression machinery are dynamically reorganized over the circadian cycle. The green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii offers a powerful model to address this gap, as it exhibits a strong, self-sustained circadian clock, is genetically tractable, and is well-suited for structural biology. This project will investigate how circadian timing shapes both global gene expression outputs and nuclear architecture. In Aim 1, I will define clock-dependent rhythms in RNA and protein abundance by performing transcriptomic and proteomic analyses on entrained (12 h light/12 h dark) and free-running (constant light) cultures. This will provide a systems-level view of how circadian control reshapes cellular function beyond transcription. In Aim 2, I will apply time-resolved cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) to visualize nuclei in situ at defined phases across the circadian cycle under light-dark entrainment. By mapping the organization of nucleosomes, nucleoli, and pre-ribosomes over 24 hs, I will uncover how nuclear architecture is dynamically remodeled under circadian control. Together, these complementary approaches will provide the first multi-scale picture of circadian control of nuclear organization and gene expression machinery in a eukaryotic cell. This work will establish new paradigms for how biological clocks orchestrate cellular architecture and function, with broad implications for circadian biology, systems regulation, and structural cell biology.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine endocrinology diabetes
- medical and health sciences basic medicine physiology
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics RNA
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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3400 Klosterneuburg
Austria
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