The circadian clock drives daily changes of physiology, including sleep-wake cycles, through regulation of transcription, protein abundance, and function. Circadian phosphorylation controls cellular processes in peripheral organs, but little is known about its role in brain function and synaptic activity. We applied advanced quantitative phosphoproteomics to mouse forebrain synaptoneurosomes isolated across 24 hours, accurately quantifying almost 8000 phosphopeptides. Half of the synaptic phosphoproteins, including numerous kinases, had large-amplitude rhythms peaking at rest-activity and activity-rest transitions. Bioinformatic analyses revealed global temporal control of synaptic function through phosphorylation, including synaptic transmission, cytoskeleton reorganization, and excitatory/inhibitory balance. Sleep deprivation abolished 98% of all phosphorylation cycles in synaptoneurosomes, indicating that sleep-wake cycles rather than circadian signals are main drivers of synaptic phosphorylation, responding to both sleep and wake pressures.

Neurons have adapted mechanisms to traffic RNA and protein into distant dendritic and axonal arbors. Taking a biochemical approach, we reveal that forebrain synaptic transcript accumulation shows overwhelmingly daily rhythms, with two-thirds of synaptic transcripts showing time-of-day–dependent abundance independent of oscillations in the soma. These transcripts formed two sharp temporal and functional clusters, with transcripts preceding dawn related to metabolism and translation and those anticipating dusk related to synaptic transmission. Characterization of the synaptic proteome around the clock demonstrates the functional relevance of temporal gating for synaptic processes and energy homeostasis. Unexpectedly, sleep deprivation completely abolished proteome but not transcript oscillations. Altogether, the emerging picture is one of a circadian anticipation of messenger RNA needs in the synapse followed by translation as demanded by sleep-wake cycles.

Protein ubiquitination is involved in virtually all cellular processes. Enrichment strategies employing antibodies targeting ubiquitin-derived diGly remnants combined with mass spectrometry (MS) have enabled investigations of ubiquitin signaling at a large scale. However, so far the power of data independent acquisition (DIA) with regards to sensitivity in single run analysis and data completeness have not yet been explored. Here, we develop a sensitive workflow combining diGly antibody-based enrichment and optimized Orbitrap-based DIA with comprehensive spectral libraries together containing more than 90,000 diGly peptides. This approach identifies 35,000 diGly peptides in single measurements of proteasome inhibitor-treated cells – double the number and quantitative accuracy of data dependent acquisition. Applied to TNF signaling, the workflow comprehensively captures known sites while adding many novel ones. An in-depth, systems-wide investigation of ubiquitination across the circadian cycle uncovers hundreds of cycling ubiquitination sites and dozens of cycling ubiquitin clusters within individual membrane protein receptors and transporters, highlighting new connections between metabolism and circadian regulation.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) is a tick-borne virus, which causes a serious illness with case-fatality rates of up to 80 % in humans. CCHFV is endemic in many countries of Africa, Asia and Southeastern Europe. Next to the countries with endemic areas, the distribution of CCHFV is unknown in Southeastern Europe. As the antibody prevalence in animals is a good indicator for the presence or absence of the virus in a region, seroepidemiological studies can be used for the definition of risk areas for CCHFV. The aim of the present study was to reveal which ruminant species is best suited as indicator for the detection of a CCHFV circulation in an area. Therefore, the prevalence rates in sheep, goats and cattle in different regions of Albania and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia were investigated. As there are no commercial tests available for the detection of CCHFV-specific antibodies in animals, two commercial tests for testing human sera were adapted for the investigation of sera from sheep and goats, and new in-house ELISAs were developed. The investigation of serum samples with these highly sensitive and specific assays (94–100 %) resulted in an overall prevalence rate of 23 % for Albania and of 49 % for Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Significant lower seroprevalence rates for CCHFV were found in cattle than in small ruminants in given areas. These results indicate that small ruminants are more suitable indicator animals for CCHFV infections and should therefore be tested preferentially, when risk areas are to be identified.

Circadian clocks are molecular timekeeping mechanisms that allow organisms to anticipate daily changes in their environment. The fundamental cellular basis of these clocks is delayed negative feedback gene regulation with PERIOD and CRYPTOCHROME containing protein complexes as main inhibitory elements. For a correct circadian period, it is essential that such clock protein complexes accumulate in the nucleus in a precisely timed manner, a mechanism that is poorly understood. We performed a systematic RNAi-mediated screen in human cells and identified 15 genes associated with the nucleo-cytoplasmic translocation machinery, whose expression is important for circadian clock dynamics. Among them was Transportin 1 (TNPO1), a non-classical nuclear import carrier, whose knockdown and knockout led to short circadian periods. TNPO1 was found in endogenous clock protein complexes and particularly binds to PER1 regulating its (but not PER2’s) nuclear localization. While PER1 is also transported to the nucleus by the classical, Importin β-mediated pathway, TNPO1 depletion slowed down PER1 nuclear import rate as revealed by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) experiments. In addition, we found that TNPO1-mediated nuclear import may constitute a novel input pathway of how cellular redox state signals to the clock, since redox stress increases binding of TNPO1 to PER1 and decreases its nuclear localization. Together, our RNAi screen knocking down import carriers (but also export carriers) results in short and long circadian periods indicating that the regulatory pathways that control the timing of clock protein subcellular localization are far more complex than previously assumed. TNPO1 is one of the novel players essential for normal circadian periods and potentially for redox regulation of the clock.