Circadian clocks and metabolism

The processes that underlie circadian timekeeping and the regulation of metabolic homeostasis are tightly and reciprocally linked. It is no surprise that many aspects of modern lifestyle such as sleep curtailment, shift work and artificial lighting simultaneously affect the clock and metabolic control. Deregulation of central and peripheral clocks affects metabolic state via processes such as glucose homeostasis or lipid processing while metabolic dysfunction impacts on circadian rhythmicity at both physiological and molecular levels. This chapter summarises the current knowledge of the processes underlying these phenomena, drawing from epidemiological, clinical, animal and molecular studies. It delineates major open problems and outlines some possible approaches towards an application of chronobiological science for the clinics and society.