Summary The intricate connection between the circadian clock and metabolism remains poorly understood. We used high temporal resolution metabolite profiling to explore clock regulation of mouse liver and cell autonomous metabolism. In liver, ~50% of metabolites were circadian, with enrichment of nucleotide, amino acid, and methylation pathways. In U2 OS cells, 28% were circadian, including amino acids and NAD biosynthesis metabolites. Eighteen metabolites oscillated in both systems and a subset of these in primary hepatocytes. These 18 metabolites were enriched in methylation and amino acid pathways. To assess clock-dependence of these rhythms, we used genetic perturbation. BMAL1 knockdown diminished metabolite rhythms, while CRY1 or CRY2 perturbation generally shortened/lengthened rhythms, respectively. Surprisingly, CRY1 knockdown induced 8 h rhythms in amino acid, methylation, and vitamin metabolites, decoupling metabolite from transcriptional rhythms, with potential impact on nutrient sensing in vivo. These results provide the first comprehensive views of circadian liver and cell autonomous metabolism.

The regenerative capacity of the liver is essential for recovery from surgical resection or injuries induced by trauma or toxins. During liver regeneration, the concentration of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) falls, at least in part due to metabolic competition for precursors. To test whether NAD availability restricts the rate of liver regeneration, we supplied nicotinamide riboside (NR), an NAD precursor, in the drinking water of mice subjected to partial hepatectomy. NR increased DNA synthesis, mitotic index, and mass restoration in the regenerating livers. Intriguingly, NR also ameliorated the steatosis that normally accompanies liver regeneration. To distinguish the role of hepatocyte NAD levels from any systemic effects of NR, we generated mice overexpressing Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (Nampt), a rate-limiting enzyme for NAD synthesis, specifically in the liver. Nampt overexpressing mice were mildly hyperglycemic at baseline and, similarly to the mice treated with NR, exhibited enhanced liver regeneration and reduced steatosis following partial hepatectomy. Conversely, mice lacking Nampt in hepatocytes exhibited impaired regenerative capacity that was completely rescued by administering NR. Conclusion NAD availability is limiting during liver regeneration and supplementation with precursors such as NR may be therapeutic in settings of acute liver injury.

The neurodegenerative disorder spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy or Kennedy disease is caused by a CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion within the androgen receptor (AR) gene. The resulting expanded polyglutamine tract in the N-terminal region of the receptor renders AR prone to ligand-dependent misfolding and formation of oligomers and aggregates that are linked to neuronal toxicity. How AR misfolding is influenced by post-translational modifications, however, is poorly understood. AR is a target of SUMOylation, and this modification inhibits AR activity in a promoter context-dependent manner. SUMOylation is up-regulated in response to multiple forms of cellular stress and may therefore play an important cytoprotective role. Consistent with this view, we find that gratuitous enhancement of overall SUMOylation significantly reduced the formation of polyglutamine-expanded AR aggregates without affecting the levels of the receptor. Remarkably, this effect requires SUMOylation of AR itself because it depends on intact AR SUMOylation sites. Functional analyses, however, indicate that the protective effects of enhanced AR SUMOylation are not due to alterations in AR transcriptional activity because a branched protein structure in the appropriate context of the N-terminal region of AR is necessary to antagonize aggregation but not for inhibiting AR transactivation. Remarkably, small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) attenuates AR aggregation through a unique mechanism that does not depend on critical features essential for its interaction with canonical SUMO binding motifs. Our findings therefore reveal a novel function of SUMOylation and suggest that approaches that enhance AR SUMOylation may be of clinical use in polyglutamine expansion diseases.Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), 2 or Kennedy disease, is an inherited degenerative disorder of lower motor neurons (1, 2). SBMA is characterized by muscle cramps and fasciculations followed by progressive weakness and atrophy of the proximal limb and bulbar muscles (3-5). The causative genetic alteration is an expansion in the length of a CAG trinucleotide repeat within the coding sequence of the androgen receptor (AR) gene, leading to an expanded polyglutamine tract in the N-terminal transcriptional regulatory domain of the receptor. A similar expansion within the coding sequence of a set of additional genes is responsible for other members of the polyglutamine class of protein folding diseases (6, 7), which include Huntington disease, several autosomal dominant spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) (8), and dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy (9, 10).The length of the CAG repeat within AR is correlated to the severity of SBMA. Although the normal repeat length is highly polymorphic and ranges between 9 and 36 copies, overt disease is associated with lengths in the range of 38 -62 repeats. The presence of an expanded polyglutamine tract within AR renders the protein prone to hormone-dependent misfolding, oligomerization, and aggregation and to the formation of microscopica...

Rapamycin extends life span in mice, yet paradoxically causes lipid dysregulation and glucose intolerance through mechanisms that remain incompletely understood. Whole-body energy balance can be influenced by beige/brite adipocytes, which are inducible by cold and other stimuli via β-adrenergic signaling in white adipose depots. Induction of beige adipocytes is considered a promising strategy to combat obesity because of their ability to metabolize glucose and lipids, dissipating the resulting energy as heat through uncoupling protein 1. Here, we report that rapamycin blocks the ability of β-adrenergic signaling to induce beige adipocytes and expression of thermogenic genes in white adipose depots. Rapamycin enhanced transcriptional negative feedback on the β3-adrenergic receptor. However, thermogenic gene expression remained impaired even when the receptor was bypassed with a cell-permeable cAMP analog, revealing the existence of a second inhibitory mechanism. Accordingly, rapamycin-treated mice are cold intolerant, failing to maintain body temperature and weight when shifted to 4°C. Adipocyte-specific deletion of the mTORC1 subunit Raptor recapitulated the block in β-adrenergic signaling. Our findings demonstrate a positive role for mTORC1 in the recruitment of beige adipocytes and suggest that inhibition of β-adrenergic signaling by rapamycin may contribute to its physiological effects.

Steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1) is an orphan nuclear receptor selectively expressed in the adrenal cortex and gonads, where it mediates the hormonal stimulation of multiple genes involved in steroid hormone biosynthesis. SF-1 is the target of both phosphorylation and SUMOylation, but how these modifications interact or contribute to SF-1 regulation of endogenous genes remains poorly defined. We found that SF-1 is selectively SUMOylated at K194 in Y1 adrenocarcinoma cells and that although SUMOylation does not alter the subcellular localization of SF-1, the modification inhibits the ability of SF-1 to activate target genes. Notably, whereas SF-1 SUMOylation is independent of S203 phosphorylation and is unaffected by adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) treatment, loss of SUMOylation leads to enhanced SF-1 phosphorylation at serine 203. Furthermore, preventing SF-1 SUMOylation increases the mRNA and protein levels of multiple steroidogenic enzyme genes. Analysis of the StAR promoter indicates that blockade of SF-1 SUMOylation leads to an increase in overall promoter occupancy but does not alter the oscillatory recruitment dynamics in response to ACTH. Notably, we find that CDK7 binds preferentially to the SUMOylation-deficient form of SF-1 and that CDK7 inhibition reduces phosphorylation of SF-1. Based on these observations, we propose a coordinated modification model in which inhibition of SF-1-mediated transcription by SUMOylation in adrenocortical cancer cells is mediated through reduced CDK7-induced phosphorylation of SF-1.Steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1) (also called NR5A1 or Ad4BP) is an orphan nuclear receptor that plays a crucial role in the regulation of steroid hormone biosynthesis, as well as in the endocrine development of both the adrenal gland and gonads (68). Several genes, including the CYP17, DAX-1, CYP19, CYP11A1, MIS, 3␤-HSD, CYP21, StAR, and Mc2R genes, have been identified as SF-1 target genes (8,9,38,39,43,45,62,69,70,73). Regulation of these genes involves the concerted action of SF-1 with multiple transcription factors with which it can synergize, such as Sox9 (18), Wt1 (31, 48), Gata4 (65), EGR1 (19,25), PITX1 (64), multiprotein bridging factor 1 (36), and . A number of coregulators, such as steroid receptor coactivator 1 (SRC-1) (16, 33), cyclic AMP response element-binding protein (CREB)-binding protein/p300 (47), transcriptional intermediary factor 2 (6), nuclear receptor corepressor (15), and ␤-catenin (46), have been reported to interact with SF-1 and likely participate in SF-1 gene activation. On the other hand, factors such as Dax-1 (34) and DP103 (50) appear to play an inhibitory role by limiting SF-1 function. The transcriptional capacity of SF-1 is influenced by posttranslational modifications, with phosphorylation at S203 playing a key stimulatory role (26). S203 phosphorylation serves to enhance coactivator binding and the transactivation potential of this receptor. Recent data indicate that SF-1 can be phosphorylated on residue S203 by either ERK1/2 or CDK7 (44). Given that CDK7 is a unique ...