scholarly journals Identification of RIFL, a novel adipocyte-enriched insulin target gene with a role in lipid metabolism

2012 ◽  
Vol 303 (3) ◽  
pp. E334-E351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gang Ren ◽  
Ji Young Kim ◽  
Cynthia M. Smas

To identify new genes that are important in fat metabolism, we utilized the Lexicon-Genentech knockout database of genes encoding transmembrane and secreted factors and whole murine genome transcriptional profiling data that we generated for 3T3-L1 in vitro adipogenesis. Cross-referencing null models evidencing metabolic phenotypes with genes induced in adipogenesis led to identification of a new gene, which we named RIFL (refeeding induced fat and liver). RIFL-null mice have serum triglyceride levels approximately one-third of wild type. RIFL transcript is induced >100-fold during 3T3-L1 adipogenesis and is also increased markedly during adipogenesis of murine and human primary preadipocytes. siRNA-mediated knockdown of RIFL during 3T3-L1 adipogenesis results in an ∼35% decrease in adipocyte triglyceride content. Murine RIFL transcript is highly enriched in white and brown adipose tissue and liver. Fractionation of WAT reveals that RIFL transcript is exclusive to adipocytes with a lack of expression in stromal-vascular cells. Nutritional and hormonal studies are consistent with a prolipogenic function for RIFL. There is evidence of an approximately eightfold increase in RIFL transcript level in WAT in ob/ob mice compared with wild-type mice. RIFL transcript level in WAT and liver is increased ∼80- and 12-fold, respectively, following refeeding of fasted mice. Treatment of 3T3-L1 adipocytes with insulin increases RIFL transcript ≤35-fold, whereas agents that stimulate lipolysis downregulate RIFL. Interestingly, the 198-amino acid RIFL protein is predicted to be secreted and shows ∼30% overall conservation with the NH2-terminal half of angiopoietin-like 3, a liver-secreted protein that impacts lipid metabolism. In summary, our data suggest that RIFL is an important new regulator of lipid metabolism.

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. iii348-iii348
Author(s):  
Tina Huang ◽  
Andrea Piunti ◽  
Elizabeth Bartom ◽  
Jin Qi ◽  
Rintaro Hashizume ◽  
...  

Abstract BACKGROUND Histone H3.3 mutation (H3F3A) occurs in 50% of cortical pediatric high-grade gliomas. This mutation replaces glycine 34 with arginine or valine (G34R/V), impairing SETD2 activity (H3K36-specific trimethyltransferase), resulting in reduced H3K36me on H3G34V nucleosomes relative to wild-type. This contributes to genomic instability and drives distinct gene expressions associated with tumorigenesis. However, it is not known if this differential H3K36me3 enrichment is due to H3G34V mutant protein alone. Therefore, we set to elucidate the effect of H3G34V on genomic H3K36me3 enrichment in vitro. METHODS Doxycycline-inducible short hairpin RNA (shRNA) against H3F3A was delivered via lentivirus to established H3G34V mutant pediatric glioma cell line KNS42, and H3G34V introduced into H3.3 wild type normal human astrocytes (NHA). Transfections were confirmed by western blot, fluorescent imaging, and flow cytometry, with resulting H3.3WT and H3K36me3 expression determined by western blot. H3.3WT, H3K36me3, and H3G34V ChIP-Seq was performed to evaluate genomic enrichment. RESULTS Complete knockdown of H3G34V was achieved with DOX-induced shRNA, with no change in total H3.3, suggesting disproportionate allelic frequency of genes encoding H3.3 (H3F3A and H3F3B). Modest increase in H3K36me3 occurred after H3F3A-knockdown from KNS42, suggesting H3G34V alone impacts observed H3K36me3 levels. Distinct H3K36me3 genomic enrichment was observed with H3G34V knock-in. CONCLUSIONS We demonstrate that DOX-inducible knockdown of H3F3A in an H3G34V mutant pediatric glioma cells and H3G34V mutation transduction in wild-type astrocytes affects H3K36me3 expression. Further evaluation by ChIP-Seq analysis for restoration of wild-type genomic H3K36me3 enrichment patterns with H3G34V knockdown, and mutant H3K36me3 patterns with H3G34V transduction, is currently underway.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Korsakova ◽  
A Morales ◽  
T McDaniel ◽  
A Lund ◽  
B Cooper ◽  
...  

AbstractRett Syndrome is characterized by a postnatal loss of neurophysiological function and regression of childhood development. Because the syndrome is X-linked and males with MECP2 mutations generally do not survive birth, the study of this syndrome has been complicated by the fact that in female brain, a portion of neurons express wild type MECP2, and another portion express a non-functional allele of MECP2. Therefore, bulk-RNA-sequencing of Rett brain is confounded by the presence of chimerism of neurons for functional MECP2 in neurons. We developed an approach that allows for single-nuclei transcriptional profiling of individual neurons and a direct comparison between neurons that express functional MECP2 with those that express the disease-causing allele. We found that mutant neurons from Rett brain show patterns of aberrant expression of synaptic and metabolic genes, both of which can be detected in in vitro models of Rett Syndrome. We used these resources to identify a role for POU2F1/OCT1 transcription factor in mediating the response to stress due to loss of MECP2, highlighting a potential key molecular regulator of stress in Rett neurons. Together, our new sorting approach enables us to highlight defective molecular and metabolic pathways in Rett brain neurons and suggests that in vitro models could serve as valuable tools to further study this syndrome and potentially for development of novel therapeutics.


2007 ◽  
Vol 293 (6) ◽  
pp. E1736-E1745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin E. Kershaw ◽  
Michael Schupp ◽  
Hong-Ping Guan ◽  
Noah P. Gardner ◽  
Mitchell A. Lazar ◽  
...  

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) regulates adipocyte genes involved in adipogenesis and lipid metabolism and is the molecular target for thiazolidinedione (TZD) antidiabetic agents. Adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) is a recently described triglyceride-specific lipase that is induced during adipogenesis and remains highly expressed in mature adipocytes. This study evaluates the ability of PPARγ to directly regulate ATGL expression in adipocytes in vitro and in vivo. In fully differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes, ATGL mRNA and protein are increased by TZD and non-TZD PPARγ agonists in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Rosiglitazone-mediated induction of ATGL mRNA is rapid and is not inhibited by the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide, indicating that intervening protein synthesis is not required for this effect. Rosiglitazone-mediated induction of ATGL mRNA and protein is inhibited by the PPARγ-specific antagonist GW-9662 and is also significantly reduced following siRNA-mediated knockdown of PPARγ, supporting the direct transcriptional regulation of ATGL by PPARγ. In vivo, ATGL mRNA and protein are increased by rosiglitazone treatment in white and brown adipose tissue of mice with and without obesity due to high-fat diet or leptin deficiency. Thus, PPARγ positively regulates ATGL mRNA and protein expression in mature adipocytes in vitro and in adipose tissue in vivo, suggesting a role for ATGL in mediating PPARγ's effects on lipid metabolism.


2015 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 701-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeleine G. Moule ◽  
Natasha Spink ◽  
Sam Willcocks ◽  
Jiali Lim ◽  
José Afonso Guerra-Assunção ◽  
...  

Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, has complex and poorly understood extracellular and intracellular lifestyles. We used transposon-directed insertion site sequencing (TraDIS) to retrospectively analyze a transposon library that had previously been screened through a BALB/c mouse model to identify genes important for growth and survivalin vivo. This allowed us to identify the insertion sites and phenotypes of negatively selected mutants that were previously overlooked due to technical constraints. All 23 unique genes identified in the original screen were confirmed by TraDIS, and an additional 105 mutants with various degrees of attenuationin vivowere identified. Five of the newly identified genes were chosen for further characterization, and clean, unmarkedbpsl2248,tex,rpiR,bpsl1728, andbpss1528deletion mutants were constructed from the wild-type strain K96243. Each of these mutants was testedin vitroandin vivoto confirm their attenuated phenotypes and investigate the nature of the attenuation. Our results confirm that we have identified new genes important toin vivovirulence with roles in different stages ofB. pseudomalleipathogenesis, including extracellular and intracellular survival. Of particular interest, deletion of the transcription accessory protein Tex was shown to be highly attenuating, and thetexmutant was capable of providing protective immunity against challenge with wild-typeB. pseudomallei, suggesting that the genes identified in our TraDIS screen have the potential to be investigated as live vaccine candidates.


Endocrinology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 157 (1) ◽  
pp. 282-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naisi Li ◽  
Qiyuan Yang ◽  
Ryan G. Walker ◽  
Thomas B. Thompson ◽  
Min Du ◽  
...  

Abstract A potentially novel approach for treating obesity includes attenuating myostatin as this increases muscle mass and decreases fat mass. Notwithstanding, conflicting studies report that myostatin stimulates or inhibits adipogenesis and it is unknown whether reduced adiposity with myostatin attenuation results from changes in fat deposition or adipogenesis. We therefore quantified changes in the stem, transit amplifying and progenitor cell pool in white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT) using label-retaining wild-type and mstn−/− (Jekyll) mice. Muscle mass was larger in Jekyll mice, WAT and BAT mass was smaller and label induction was equal in all tissues from both wild-type and Jekyll mice. The number of label-retaining cells, however, dissipated quicker in WAT and BAT of Jekyll mice and was only 25% and 17%, respectively, of wild-type cell counts 1 month after induction. Adipose cell density was significantly higher in Jekyll mice and increased over time concomitant with label-retaining cell disappearance, which is consistent with enhanced expansion and differentiation of the stem, transit amplifying and progenitor pool. Stromal vascular cells from Jekyll WAT and BAT differentiated into mature adipocytes at a faster rate than wild-type cells and although Jekyll WAT cells also proliferated quicker in vitro, those from BAT did not. Differentiation marker expression in vitro, however, suggests that mstn−/− BAT preadipocytes are far more sensitive to the suppressive effects of myostatin. These results suggest that myostatin attenuation stimulates adipogenesis in vivo and that the reduced adiposity in mstn−/− animals results from nutrient partitioning away from fat and in support of muscle.


2009 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 275-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha M. Nesbitt ◽  
Xinxin Yang ◽  
Patricia Fontán ◽  
Irina Kolesnikova ◽  
Issar Smith ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, is an intracellular pathogen that shifts to a lipid-based metabolism in the host. Moreover, metabolism of the host lipid cholesterol plays an important role in M. tuberculosis infection. We used transcriptional profiling to identify genes transcriptionally regulated by cholesterol and KstR (Rv3574), a TetR-like repressor. The fadA5 (Rv3546) gene, annotated as a lipid-metabolizing thiolase, the expression of which is upregulated by cholesterol and repressed by KstR, was deleted in M. tuberculosis H37Rv. We demonstrated that fadA5 is required for utilization of cholesterol as a sole carbon source in vitro and for full virulence of M. tuberculosis in the chronic stage of mouse lung infection. Cholesterol is not toxic to the fadA5 mutant strain, and, therefore, toxicity does not account for its attenuation. We show that the wild-type strain, H37Rv, metabolizes cholesterol to androst-4-ene-3,17-dione (AD) and androsta-1,4-diene-3,17-dione (ADD) and exports these metabolites into the medium, whereas the fadA5 mutant strain is defective for this activity. We demonstrate that FadA5 catalyzes the thiolysis of acetoacetyl-coenzyme A (CoA). This catalytic activity is consistent with a β-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase function in cholesterol β-oxidation that is required for the production of androsterones. We conclude that the attenuated phenotype of the fadA5 mutant is a consequence of disrupted cholesterol metabolism that is essential only in the persistent stage of M. tuberculosis infection and may be caused by the inability to produce AD/ADD from cholesterol.


Author(s):  
Karl Schreiber ◽  
Jennifer D Lewis

Phytopathogens use secreted effector proteins to suppress host immunity and promote pathogen virulence, and there is increasing evidence that the host-pathogen interactome comprises a complex network. In an effort to identify novel interactors of the Pseudomonas syringae effector HopZ1a, we performed a yeast two-hybrid screen that identified a previously uncharacterized Arabidopsis protein that we designate HopZ1a Interactor 1 (ZIN1). Additional analyses in yeast and in planta revealed that ZIN1 also interacts with several other P. syringae effectors. We show that an Arabidopsis loss-of-function zin1 mutant is less susceptible to infection by certain strains of P. syringae, while overexpression of ZIN1 results in enhanced susceptibility. Functionally, ZIN1 exhibits topoisomerase-like activity in vitro. Transcriptional profiling of wild-type and zin1 Arabidopsis plants inoculated with P. syringae indicated that while ZIN1 regulates a wide range of pathogen-responsive biological processes, the list of genes more highly expressed in zin1 versus wild-type plants was particularly enriched for ribosomal protein genes. Altogether, these data illuminate ZIN1 as a potential susceptibility hub that interacts with multiple effectors to influence the outcome of plant-microbe interactions.


Author(s):  
Abu Saleh Ahmed ◽  
Seiya Watanabe ◽  
Sinin Hamdan ◽  
Tsutomu Kodaki ◽  
Keisuke Makino

Agricultural waste biomasshas already been transferred to bioethanol and used as energy related products, although many issues such as efficiency and productivity still exist to be overcome. In this study, the protein engineering was applied to generate enzymes with completely reversed coenzyme specificity and developed recombinant yeasts containing those engineered enzymes for construction of an efficient biomass-ethanol conversion system. Recombinant yeasts were constructed with the genes encoding a wild type xylose reductase (XR)and the protein engineered xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH)(with NADP) of Pichiastipitis. These recombinant yeasts were characterized based on the enzyme activity and fermentation ability of xylose to ethanol. The protein engineered enzymes were expressed significantly in Saccharomycescerevisiaeas judged by the enzyme activity in vitro. Ethanol fermentation was measured in batch culture under anaerobic conditions. The significant enhancement was found in Y-ARSstrain, in which NADP+-dependentXDH was expressed; 85% decrease of unfavorable xylitol excretion with 26% increased ethanol production, when compared with the reference strain expressing the wild–type XDH. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 814
Author(s):  
Xiaohan Zhu ◽  
Mohammad Sayari ◽  
Md. Rashidul Islam ◽  
Fouad Daayf

NADPH oxidase (Nox) genes are responsible for Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) production in living organisms such as plants, animals, and fungi, where ROS exert different functions. ROS are critical for sexual development and cellular differentiation in fungi. In previous publications, two genes encoding thioredoxin and NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase involved in maintaining ROS balance were shown to be remarkably induced in a highly versus a weakly aggressive Verticillium dahliae isolate. This suggested a role of these genes in the virulence of this pathogen. NoxA (NADPH oxidase A) was identified in the V. dahliae genome. We compared in vitro expression of NoxA in highly and weakly aggressive isolates of V. dahliae after elicitation with extracts from different potato tissues. NoxA expression was induced more in the weakly than highly aggressive isolate in response to leaf and stem extracts. After inoculation of potato detached leaves with these two V. dahliae isolates, NoxA was drastically up-regulated in the highly versus the weakly aggressive isolate. We generated single gene disruption mutants for NoxA genes. noxa mutants had significantly reduced virulence, indicating important roles in V. dahliae pathogenesis on the potato. This is consistent with a significant reduction of cellophane penetration ability of the mutants compared to the wild type. However, the cell wall integrity was not impaired in the noxa mutants when compared with the wild type. The resistance of noxa mutants to oxidative stress were also similar to the wild type. Complementation of noxa mutants with a full length NoxA clones restored penetration and pathogenic ability of the fungus. Our data showed that NoxA is essential for both penetration peg formation and virulence in V. dahliae.


2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (52) ◽  
pp. 26881-26891 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Rosenberg ◽  
Madeline R. Luth ◽  
Elizabeth A. Winzeler ◽  
Michael Behnke ◽  
L. David Sibley

Artemisinins are effective against a variety of parasites and provide the first line of treatment for malaria. Laboratory studies have identified several mechanisms for artemisinin resistance inPlasmodium falciparum, including mutations in Kelch13 that are associated with delayed clearance in some clinical isolates, although other mechanisms are likely involved. To explore other potential mechanisms of resistance in parasites, we took advantage of the genetic tractability ofToxoplasma gondii, a related parasite that shows moderate sensitivity to artemisinin. Resistant populations ofT. gondiiwere selected by culture in increasing concentrations and whole-genome sequencing identified several nonconservative point mutations that emerged in the population and were fixed over time. Genome editing using CRISPR/Cas9 was used to introduce point mutations conferring amino acid changes in a serine protease homologous to DegP and a serine/threonine protein kinase of unknown function. Single and double mutations conferred a competitive advantage over wild-type parasites in the presence of drug, despite not changing EC50values. Additionally, the evolved resistant lines showed dramatic amplification of the mitochondria genome, including genes encoding cytochromeband cytochromecoxidase I. Prior studies in yeast and mammalian tumor cells implicate the mitochondrion as a target of artemisinins, and treatment of wild-type parasites with high concentrations of drug decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, a phenotype that was stably altered in the resistant parasites. These findings extend the repertoire of mutations associated with artemisinin resistance and suggest that the mitochondrion may be an important target of inhibition of resistance inT. gondii.


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