Genome-wide Circadian Control of Transcription at Active Enhancers Regulates Insulin Secretion and Diabetes Risk

The molecular clock is a transcriptional oscillator present in brain and peripheral cells that coordinates behavior and physiology with the solar cycle. Here we reveal that the clock gates insulin secretion through genome-wide transcriptional control of the pancreatic exocyst across species. Clock transcription factors bind to unique enhancer sites in cycling genes in beta cells that diverge from those in liver, revealing the dynamics of inter-tissue clock control of genomic and physiologic processes important in glucose homeostasis. Transcriptome profiling in mouse and human islets at serial 4-hour time intervals by polyA RNA-Seq