Integrated molecular and behavioural data reveal deep circadian disruption in response to artificial light at night in male Great tits (Parus major)

Dominoni, D. M. et al. (2022) Integrated molecular and behavioural data reveal deep circadian disruption in response to artificial light at night in male Great tits (Parus major). Scientific Reports, 12(1), 1553. (doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-05059-4) (PMID:35091579) (PMCID:PMC8799718)

Abstract

Globally increasing levels of artificial light at night (ALAN) are associated with shifting rhythms of behaviour in many wild species. However, it is unclear whether changes in behavioural timing are paralleled by consistent shifts in the molecular clock and its associated physiological pathways. Inconsistent shifts between behavioural and molecular rhythms, and between different tissues and physiological systems, disrupt the circadian system, which coordinates all major body functions. We therefore compared behavioural, transcriptional and metabolomic responses of captive great tits (Parus major) to three ALAN intensities or to dark nights, recording activity and sampling brain, liver, spleen and blood at mid-day and midnight. ALAN advanced wake-up time, and this shift was paralleled by advanced expression of the clock gene BMAL1 in all tissues, suggesting close links between behaviour and clock gene expression across tissues. However, further analysis of gene expression and metabolites revealed that clock shifts were inconsistent across physiological systems. Untargeted metabolomic profiling showed that only 9.7% of the 755 analysed metabolites followed the behavioural shift. This high level of desynchronization indicates that ALAN disrupted the circadian system on a deep, easily overlooked level. Thus, circadian disruption could be a key mediator of health impacts of ALAN on wild animals.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust grant to B.H and D.M.D (097821/Z/11/Z), a Marie-Curie Career Integration Grant to B.H. (ECCIG (618578) Wildclocks), a NERC Highlight Topics grant to D.M.D. (NE/S005773/1) and the Dutch Technology Foundation (STW).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Clark, Dr Jessica and Bellingham, Dr Michelle and Blackburn, Dr Gavin and Helm, Dr Barbara
• Authors: Dominoni, D. M., de Jong, M., van Oers, K., O’Shaughnessy, P., Blackburn, G., Atema, E., Mateman, A. C., D’Amelio, P. B., Trost, L., Bellingham, M., Clark, J., Visser, M. E., and Helm, B.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
• Journal Name: Scientific Reports
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2045-2322
• ISSN (Online): 2045-2322
• Published Online: 28 January 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Scientific Reports 12(1):1553
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
303242		Unravelling the impact of artificial light at night on circadian disruption, immunity, and infection risk	Davide Dominoni	Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)	NE/S005773/1	Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine