Correction to: inhibition of p38 MAPK activity leads to cell type-specific effects on the molecular circadian clock and time-dependent reduction of glioma cell invasiveness.

Following publication of the original article [1], we have been notified that the tagging of one of the author names was done incorrectly in the XML version of the paper. The online and pdf versions of this paper are not affected by the change. Original and corrected tagging can be seen below.

Inhibition of p38 MAPK activity leads to cell type-specific effects on the molecular circadian clock and time-dependent reduction of glioma cell invasiveness.

Background: The circadian clock is the basis for biological time keeping in eukaryotic organisms. The clock mechanism relies on biochemical signaling pathways to detect environmental stimuli and to regulate the expression of clock-controlled genes throughout the body. MAPK signaling pathways function in both circadian input and output pathways in mammals depending on the tissue; however, little is known about the role of p38 MAPK, an established tumor suppressor, in the mammalian circadian system.

Diverse roles for MAPK signaling in circadian clocks.

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family of genes aids cells in sensing both extracellular and intracellular stimuli, and emerging data indicate that MAPKs have fundamental, yet diverse, roles in the circadian biological clock. In the mammalian suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), MAPK pathways can function as inputs allowing the endogenous clock to entrain to 24h environmental cycles. MAPKs can also interact physically and/or genetically with components of the molecular circadian oscillator, implying that MAPKs can affect the cycling of the clock.

Direct transcriptional control of a p38 MAPK pathway by the circadian clock in Neurospora crassa.

MAPK signal transduction pathways are important regulators of stress responses, cellular growth, and differentiation. In Neurospora, the circadian clock controls rhythms in phosphorylation of the p38-like MAPK (OS-2); however, the mechanism for this regulation is not known. We show that the WCC, a transcription factor and clock component, binds to the os-4 MAPKKK promoter in response to light and rhythmically in constant darkness, peaking in the subjective morning.

Circadian rhythmicity mediated by temporal regulation of the activity of p38 MAPK.

Circadian clocks are composed of central oscillators, input pathways that transduce external information to the oscillators, and output pathways that allow the oscillators to temporally regulate cellular processes. Little is known about the output pathways. In this study, we show that the Neurospora crassa osmosensing MAPK pathway, essential for osmotic stress responses, is a circadian output pathway that regulates daily rhythms in the expression of downstream genes.