In line, PER2 is upregulated in mouse models of spinal muscular atrophy and denervation-induced muscle atrophy (Nakao et al., 2015; Walter et al., 2018) whereas siRNA-mediated downregulation of PER2 enhances protein synthesis and suppresses autophagy in skeletal muscle (Kalfalah et al., 2016). Here, PER2 is linked to spinal muscular atrophy.