Circadian rhythms in Neurospora crassa: Farnesol or geraniol allow expression of rhythmicity in the otherwise arrhythmic strains frq10, wc-1, and wc-2

Abstract

In Neurospora crassa, the circadian rhythm can be seen in the bd (band) strain as a series of "bands" or conidiation (spore-forming) regions on the surface of an agar medium. Certain mutations at 3 different genes (frq, wc-1, or wc-2) lead to the loss of the circadian rhythm. In this study, it was found that the addition of 10-4 to 10-5 M of geraniol or farnesol restored rhythmic banding to strains that lack a circadian rhythm due to mutations in any 1 of these 3 genes. These 3 conditionally arrhythmic strains now exhibited robust, free-running conidiation rhythms. Their rhythms were neither temperature-compensated nor obviously sensitive to light, so the full properties of a circadian rhythm were not restored. At 20 °C, in growth tubes, farnesol treatment gave periods of 28, 26, and 22 h for the frq10, wc-1, and wc-2 strains, respectively. Geraniol treatment at 20 °C gave periods of 23, 25.5, and 24.5 h for the frq10, wc-1, and wc-2 strains, respectively. A PRC for temperature pulses (1 h, 20 to 40 °C) for the frq10 strain grown in the presence of geraniol showed strong resetting (type 0), suggesting that a temperature-sensitive oscillator was present. Farnesol and geraniol are related to known intermediates in the steroid (or mevalonate) pathway. These data are interpreted in terms of a 2-oscillator model, in which farnesol/geraniol activate or amplify a remaining oscillator (a postulated frq-less oscillator).