Browsing by Author "Newgard, Christopher B"

SIRT3 is an NAD+-dependent mitochondrial protein deacetylase purported to influence cellular and systemic metabolism through modulation of the mitochondrial acetylproteome. Fuel-stimulated insulin secretion from pancreatic islets involves mitochondrial metabolism and might be susceptible to SIRT3-mediated effects. To investigate this idea, we used CRISPR/Cas9 technology to obtain complete SIRT3 knockout in the INS-1 832/13 insulinoma cell line. In the context of this SIRT3 knockout cell line, we re-expressed wild-type SIRT3, β-Galactosidase, or one of three enzymatically inactive mutant forms of SIRT3 to generate lines representing a wide range of SIRT3 expression and mitochondrial protein deacetylase activity. We performed large-scale acetylproteome profiling by mass spectrometry on the different lines, and observed wide-spread, SIRT3-dependent changes in acetylation of enzymes involved in fatty acid oxidation, the TCA cycle, and the electron transport chain. Remarkably, despite these broad changes, the cell lines had indistinguishable insulin secretion responses to glucose or pyruvate, and exhibited no differences in function or viability in response to metabolic or ER stress-inducing agents. Moreover, metabolomic profiling revealed that, when compared to SIRT3-null cell lines, expression of wild-type SIRT3 does not result in appreciable changes in a host of organic acid, amino acid or fatty acid-derived acylcarnitine metabolites during glucose stimulation.

We also studied mice with global SIRT3 knockout (KO) fed a standard chow (STD) or high-fat/high-sucrose (HFHS) diet. Importantly, we performed these studies in the C57Bl/6J background in which we replaced the mutant allele of nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase (NNT) present in the “J” substrain, with the wild-type allele in order to restore endogenous NNT function. SIRT3 KO and wild-type (WT) mice fed a STD diet exhibited no differences in insulin secretion during oral or IP glucose tolerance tests, and the function of islets isolated from these mice was indistinguishable in islet perifusion studies conducted with a broad array of secretagogues. Only when chronically fed a HFHS diet did SIRT3 KO animals exhibit a modest impairment in insulin secretion, but without an effect on glycemic control. Our broad conclusion is that major changes in mitochondrial protein acetylation in response to manipulation of SIRT3 are not sufficient to cause changes in islet function or metabolism. However, under conditions of chronic nutritional stress (feeding of a HFHS diet for 12 weeks), a negative effect on function appears, suggesting that islets are more susceptible to nutrition-induced factors (oxidative stress, local cytokine production, etc.) when SIRT3 is absent. Further studies will be required to identify factors that may interact with SIRT3 deficiency and mitochondrial protein hyperacetylation to increase the risk of -cell dysfunction.

Insulin secreting β-cells within the pancreatic islets of Langerhans are vital to maintaining glycemic control. β-cell functional mass is lost during the progression to both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes mellitus, resulting in hyperglycemia. Therefore, a major goal of diabetes research is to uncover pathways that can be exploited to induce β-cell replication while simultaneously maintaining β-cell function.

We previously reported that adenovirus-mediated overexpression of the transcription factor PDX1 is sufficient to induce β-cell replication, but underlying mechanisms remain to be resolved. Using statistical modeling, we identified the miR-17 family, a member of the miR17~92 miRNA cluster, as a candidate regulator of the PDX1-gene network. We show that PDX1 can directly regulate the MIR17HG promoter, the first example of β-cell specific regulation for this important miRNA cluster. Furthermore, the miR17~92 target PTEN is reduced in PDX1-overexpressing β-cells, and chemical inhibition of PTEN potentiates PDX1-mediated β-cell replication, supportive of the presence of a PDX1/miR17~92/PTEN regulatory node.

Recombinant adenovirus approaches pioneered by our laboratory have been the main method of genetic manipulation of primary islets in culture since 1994. Whereas adenovirus vectors have proved useful in an otherwise difficult model system, virus construction, especially for cell-type specific applications, is still laborious and time-consuming. To overcome this, we have created a new modular cloning system (pMVP) that allows a gene of interest to be rapidly recombined in the context of an array of promoters, N- or C-terminal epitope tags, inducible gene expression modalities, and/or fluorescent reporters, into 18 custom destination vectors, including adenovirus, expression plasmid, lentivirus, and Sleeping Beauty transposon, thus, permitting the creation of > 8000 unique vector permutations. Multiple features of this new vector platform, including cell type-specific and inducible control of gene expression, were validated in the setting of pancreatic islets and other cellular contexts. Furthermore, using pMVP as a foundation, we also developed an S. aureus dCas9 epigenetic engineering platform, pMAGIC, that enables the packaging of 3 guide RNAs with Sa-dCas9 fused to one of five epigenetic modifiers into a single vector. Using pMAGIC-derived adenoviruses, we functionally validated the regulation of PDX1 by Area IV, a cross-species conserved enhancer, through LSD1-mediated epigenetic modification in both INS1 832/13 cells and primary rat pancreatic islets.

In sum, my work has uncovered novel information about the role of PDX1 in regulation of the miR17~92 miRNA cluster in pancreatic islet cells. In an effort to contribute more broadly to our laboratory’s pancreatic islet research efforts, I also designed and built the pMVP and pMAGIC systems for efficient generation of purpose-built, customized vectors for manipulation of gene expression in islets and other cell types, including via targeted epigenetic modification of putative regulatory elements within their native chromatin context. Development of this novel vector platform facilitated additional discoveries about the role of Area IV in control of PDX1 expression in islet β-cells.

Heart failure is a worldwide public health problem with substantial clinical burden and economic costs. In the progression into failure, the heart undergoes dramatic alterations in mitochondrial fuel metabolism and bioenergetics. As such, there is considerable interest in the delineation of regulatory events involved in the metabolic dysfunction of heart failure. Previous collaborative work identified three metabolic signatures associated with early stage heart failure: 1) accumulation of acylcarnitine metabolites; 2) mitochondrial hyperacetylation; and 3) elevated ketone catabolism. The goal of this dissertation was to explore the role of these metabolic signatures in the pathogenesis of heart failure.

Tissue accumulation of acylcarnitine metabolites is characteristic of mitochondrial dysfunction and indicative of incomplete β-oxidation. This occurs when a large portion of the fatty acids (i.e., acyl groups) within the mitochondria are not fully catabolized and the resulting intermediates are transferred to carnitine esters, enabling the traversal of biological membranes and departure from the mitochondrial matrix.

Nϵ-acetylation in the mitochondrial matrix is a non-enzymatic, post-translational modification (PTM) that spontaneously arises from the relatively basic pH and abundance of acetyl-CoA. Accumulation of this PTM has been observed in other tissues and disease states with evidence suggesting it impairs mitochondrial metabolism and causes dysfunction. However, convincing studies are lacking to establish a direct causal connection between dysfunction and acetylation. To address this shortcoming, a novel assay platform for the comprehensive assessment of mitochondrial bioenergetic transduction was developed and validated. Next, we generated and validated a novel mouse model of cardiac mitochondrial hyperacetylation and utilized the bioenergetic assay platform to test the hypothesis that it causes metabolic perturbations. Surprisingly, these hyperacetylated mitochondria exhibited almost no deficits in mitochondrial oxidative metabolism. To determine if hyperacetylation causes mitochondrial dysfunction in vivo under pathologic stimuli, the mouse model and littermate controls were subjected to transaortic constriction, a surgical method to induce pressure-overload heart failure. The hyperacetylated animals did not exhibit enhanced sensitivity toward cardiac dysfunction relative controls. With these results, we concluded that mitochondrial hyperacetylation does not contribute to the pathogenesis of heart failure.

Elevated ketone catabolism was observed in early stage failing hearts. Through a series of murine and canine heart failure models, ketone catabolism was shown to be adaptive in response to pathological stress. Additionally, the mitochondrial bioenergetic assay platform was applied to cardiac mitochondria under substrate limited-conditions. These results indicate that ketone catabolism improves bioenergetic efficiency under constraints which mimic the failing heart. With these results, we conclude ketone catabolism is an important metabolic defense in response to the dysfunction of the failing heart.

A deficiency in functional pancreatic beta-cells is a defining feature in type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The development of therapeutic strategies for replacement and regeneration of beta-cell mass is a key objective of current diabetes research. The Newgard lab has had a particular focus in exploring novel beta-cell replication pathways in order to identify targets that enhance beta-cell proliferation, survival, and function. The beta-cell developmental transcription factors Nkx6.1 and Pdx-1 each have a profound proliferative effect when overexpressed in young rat islets in vitro. The unique ability of these factors and the pathways that they control to expand functional beta-cell mass while either being neutral or positive for other key functions (survival, insulin secretion) encourages further studies to better elucidate candidate target genes within these pathways.

A major limitation of the research to date is that Nkx6.1 and Pdx-1 only exert their proliferative effects in young (2 months) rodent islets and not in old (8-10 months) rodent islets. Moreover, these factors are only weakly active in human islets, most of which come from middle-aged donors. Nkx6.1 and Pdx-1 engage pathways that are upstream of the core cell cycle machinery and that have the potential to be stimulated in a beta-cell specific manner, but use of this approach will depend on a better understanding of the differences between human and rodent islets, which may be modeled by the differences between old and young rat islets.

Type 2 diabetes is characterized by insufficient insulin secretion to maintain euglycemia in the setting of peripheral insulin resistance. The majority of insulin-resistant diabetics are obese, yet not all insulin-resistant obese individuals develop diabetes. This obesity/diabetes dichotomy suggests that genetic factors play a pivotal role in disease pathogenesis.

Gene mapping has identified genetic quantitative trait loci (QTL) influencing disease-related phenotypes. To uncover molecular pathways leading from genotype to clinical trait, we classify phenotypes in greater depth and identify QTL that influence combinations of physiological traits, mRNA levels, and metabolite abundance. A major challenge then becomes deciphering the causal interrelationships among correlated phenotypes.

In this dissertation, we develop methods for building causal direction into an undirected network by including QTLs for each phenotype. We then apply and validate these methods in an F2 intercross between the diabetes-resistant C57BL/6 leptinob/ob (B6ob/ob) and the diabetes-susceptible BTBR leptinob/ob (BTBRob/ob) mouse strains. We show that genomic analysis can be integrated with liver transcriptional and metabolite profiling data to construct causal networks for specific metabolic processes in liver. This causal network construction led to the discovery of a pathway by which glutamine induces Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (Pck1) expression.

To investigate glutamine induction of Pck1 in the context of diabetes, we perform mRNA expression analysis and metabolic profiling in liver of the parental strains. We find glutamine is decreased with obesity in both strains; in the diabetes-resistant B6 strain, liver Pck1 expression parallels glutamine abundance, but in the diabetes-susceptible BTBR strain, Pck1 is elevated with obesity. Follow-up in vitro studies indicate that α-ketoglutarate, which is elevated nearly two fold in the livers of BTBR relative to B6 mice in vivo, may mediate the glutamine effect. We hypothesize that hepatic Pck1 is regulated by glutamine abundance in the liver of B6 animals, but in the presence of high α-ketoglutarate, Pck1 becomes uncoupled from glutamine regulation in the livers of diabetes-susceptible BTBR mice.

Our method of causal network construction led to the discovery of glutamine induction of a key hepatic gluconeogenic enzyme, a pathway potentially disrupted in the diabetes-susceptible BTBR mouse. Future studies will include identifying hepatic mediators of the glutamine effect, and applying QTL-directed networks to multiple organs to ultimately define causal relationships between tissues involved in diabetes progression.

Insulin secretion is a fundamental process of pancreatic beta-cells required for the maintenance of glucose homeostasis. Fuel-stimulated insulin secretion occurs in proportion to the rate of metabolism of fuel substrates, yet the signals generated by metabolism of these secretagogues are incompletely understood. The increased burden placed on the beta-cell in conditions of obesity and insulin resistance often leads to dysregulation of stimulous-secretion coupling. Therefore, better understanding of the metabolic events required for insulin release is likely to be helpful in development of more effective treatments for diabetes.

Previous work in our lab revealed a critical role for the pyruvate-isocitrate cycling pathway in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. It has been our hypothesis that this series of reactions plays a unique role in the beta-cell, and may be responsible for the generation of second-messenger signals critical for insulin secretion in response to increased fuel metabolism. One of the intermediates in the pyruvate/isocitrate cycle is cytosolic 2-oxoglutarate (2OG). In an effort to better understand the components of the pyruvate/isocitrate cycle and the signals that it generates, we initially focused our studies on the transporter protein responsible for the return of 2OG to the mitochondria, the 2-oxoglutarate carrier (OGC).

OGC was overexpressed in rat insulinoma 832/13 beta-cells and suppressed in both 832/13 cells and islets, and effects on metabolism and insulin secretion were measured. While overexpression of the OGC failed to alter insulin secretion, its siRNA-mediated suppression resulted in decreased insulin secretion in response to glucose, glutamine + BCH, and dimethyl-2-oxoglutarate. Suppression of OGC did not affect core pathways of fuel metabolism such as glucose usage, glucose oxidation or ATP production during glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) or glutamine oxidation or ATP production during amino acid-stimulated insulin secretion (AASIS). Similar to previous findings, glucose-induced NADPH production was determined to be decreased in response to OGC suppression, whereas NADPH production during AASIS in untreated cells was already much lower than for GSIS, and suppression of OGC failed to decrease NADPH further.

As an additional approach to studying the role of 2OG metabolism in insulin secretion, we also investigated the mitochondrial enzyme glutamate dehydrogenase (Glud1). Overexpression of wild-type Glud1 failed to alter insulin secretion in 832/13 cells or in islets; however, suppression of Glud1 decreased both GSIS and AASIS, but did not affect dimethyl-2OG-stimulated insulin secretion. The reduction in AASIS was most likely the result of reduced glutamine oxidation. In contrast, during GSIS, NADPH production was decrease by Glud1 suppression, similar to our observation with the OGC.

In summary, these data expand our understanding of the metabolic pathways necessary for insulin secretion, and support the idea of a common metabolic pathway required for fuel-stimulated insulin release, including flux through the OGC, Glud1, and ICDc. However, while these data support the hypothesis that NADPH production is necessary for robust GSIS, it plays a less-prominent role during AASIS, and most likely works in concert with additional coupling-factors and signals.

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