miR-210 controls the evening phase of circadian locomotor rhythms through repression of Fasciclin 2

Circadian clocks control the timing of animal behavioral and physiological rhythms. Fruit flies anticipate daily environmental changes and exhibit two peaks of locomotor activity around dawn and dusk. microRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that play important roles in post-transcriptional regulation. Here we identify Drosophila miR-210 as a critical regulator of circadian rhythms. Under light-dark conditions, flies lacking miR-210 (miR-210(KO)) exhibit a dramatic 2 hrs phase advance of evening anticipatory behavior. However, circadian rhythms and molecular pacemaker function are intact in miR-210(KO) flies under constant darkness. Furthermore, we identify that miR-210 determines the evening phase of activity through repression of the cell adhesion molecule Fasciclin 2 (Fas2). Ablation of the miR-210 binding site within the 3’ UTR of Fas2 (Fas2(ΔmiR-210)) by CRISPR-Cas9 advances the evening phase as in miR-210(KO). Indeed, miR-210 genetically interacts with Fas2. Moreover, Fas2 abundance is significantly increased in the optic lobe of miR-210(KO). In addition, overexpression of Fas2 in the miR-210 expressing cells recapitulates the phase advance behavior phenotype of miR-210(KO). Together, these results reveal a novel mechanism by which miR-210 regulates circadian locomotor behavior.