Circadian rhythms are 24-h rhythms in physiology and behaviour generated by molecular clocks, which serve to coordinate internal time with the external world. The circadian system is a master regulator of nearly all physiology and its disruption has major consequences on health. Sleep and circadian rhythm disruption (SCRD) is a ubiquitous feature in today’s 24/7 society, and studies on shift-workers have shown that SCRD can lead not only to cognitive impairment, but also metabolic syndrome and psychiatric illness including depression (1,2). Mouse models of clock mutants recapitulate these deficits, implicating mechanistic and causal links between SCRD and disease pathophysiology (3–5). Importantly, treating clock disruption reverses and attenuates these adverse health states in animal models (6,7), thus establishing the circadian system as a novel therapeutic target. Significantly, circadian and clock-controlled gene mutations have recently been identified by Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) in the aetiology of sleep, mental health and metabolic disorders. This review will focus upon the genetics of circadian rhythms in sleep and health.

The accumulation of adenosine is strongly correlated with the need for sleep and the detection of sleep pressure is antagonised by caffeine. Caffeine also affects the circadian timing system directly and independently of sleep physiology, but how caffeine mediates these effects upon the circadian clock is unclear. Here we identify an adenosine-based regulatory mechanism that allows sleep and circadian processes to interact for the optimisation of sleep/wake timing in mice. Adenosine encodes sleep history and this signal modulates circadian entrainment by light. Pharmacological and genetic approaches demonstrate that adenosine acts upon the circadian clockwork via adenosine A1/A2A receptor signalling through the activation of the Ca2+ -ERK-AP-1 and CREB/CRTC1-CRE pathways to regulate the clock genes Per1 and Per2. We show that these signalling pathways converge upon and inhibit the same pathways activated by light. Thus, circadian entrainment by light is systematically modulated on a daily basis by sleep history. These findings contribute to our understanding of how adenosine integrates signalling from both light and sleep to regulate circadian timing in mice.

Salt-Inducible kinases, which comprise a family of three homologous serine-threonine kinases were first described for their role in sodium sensing, but have since been shown to regulate multiple aspects of physiology. These kinases are activated or deactivated in response to extracellular signals that are cell surface receptor mediated, and go on to phosphorylate multiple targets including the transcription co-factors CRTC1-3 and the Class IIa histone deacetylases (HDACs). Thus, the SIK family conveys signals about the cellular environment to reprogram transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes in response. In this manner, SIKs have been shown to regulate metabolic responses to feeding/fasting, cell division and oncogenesis, inflammation, and immune responses and most recently, sleep and circadian rhythms. Sleep and circadian rhythms are master regulators of physiology and are exquisitely sensitive to regulation by environmental light, and physiological signals such as need for sleep. Salt-Inducible kinases have been shown to be central the molecular control of both these processes. Here we summarise the molecular mechanisms by which SIKs control these different domains of physiology and highlight where there is mechanistic overlap with sleep/circadian rhythm control.