Department of Plant Biology/Plant Biotechnology Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Critical to the maintenance of circadian rhythmicity is the cyclic expression of at least some components of the central oscillator. High-amplitude cycling of mRNA and protein abundance, protein phosphorylation and nuclear/cytoplasmic shuttling have all been implicated in the maintenance of circadian period. Here we use a newly characterized Arabidopsis suspension cell culture to establish that the rhythmic changes in the levels of the clock-associated F-box protein, ZTL, are posttranscriptionally controlled through different circadian phase-specific degradation rates. This proteolysis is proteasome dependent, implicating ZTL itself as substrate for ubiquitination. This demonstration of circadian phase-regulated degradation of an F-box protein, which itself controls circadian period, suggests a novel regulatory feedback mechanism among known circadian systems.