Differential cell type-specific function of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and its repressor in diet-induced obesity and fibrosis.

OBJECTIVE: The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor regulating xenobiotic responses as well as physiological metabolism. Dietary AhR ligands activate the AhR signaling axis, whereas AhR activation is negatively regulated by the AhR repressor (AhRR). While AhR-deficient mice are known to be resistant to diet-induced obesity (DIO), the influence of the AhRR on DIO has not been assessed so far. METHODS: In this study, we analyzed AhRR-/- mice and mice with a conditional deletion of either AhRR or AhR in myeloid cells under conditions of DIO and after supplementation of dietary AhR ligands. Moreover, macrophage metabolism was assessed using Seahorse Mito Stress Test and ROS assays as well as transcriptomic analysis. RESULTS: We demonstrate that global AhRR deficiency leads to a robust, but not as profound protection from DIO and hepatosteatosis as AhR deficiency. Under conditions of DIO, AhRR-/- mice did not accumulate TCA cycle intermediates in the circulation in contrast to wild-type (WT) mice, indicating protection from metabolic dysfunction. This effect could be mimicked by dietary supplementation of AhR ligands in WT mice. Because of the predominant expression of the AhRR in myeloid cells, AhRR-deficient macrophages were analyzed for changes in metabolism and showed major metabolic alterations regarding oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial activity. Unbiased transcriptomic analysis revealed increased expression of genes involved in de novo lipogenesis and mitochondrial biogenesis. Mice with a genetic deficiency of the AhRR in myeloid cells did not show alterations in weight gain after high fat diet (HFD) but demonstrated ameliorated liver damage compared to control mice. Further, deficiency of the AhR in myeloid cells also did not affect weight gain but led to enhanced liver damage and adipose tissue fibrosis compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS: AhRR-deficient mice are resistant to diet-induced metabolic syndrome. Although conditional ablation of either the AhR or AhRR in myeloid cells did not recapitulate the phenotype of the global knockout, our findings suggest that enhanced AhR signaling in myeloid cells deficient for AhRR protects from diet-induced liver damage and fibrosis, whereas myeloid cell-specific AhR deficiency is detrimental.

Real-time monitoring of cAMP in brown adipocytes reveals differential compartmentation of ß1 and ß3-adrenoceptor signalling.

OBJECTIVE: 3',5'-Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is a central second messenger governing brown adipocyte differentiation and function. ß-adrenergic receptors (ß-ARs) stimulate adenylate cyclases which produce cAMP. Moreover, cyclic nucleotide levels are tightly controlled by phosphodiesterases (PDEs), which can generate subcellular microdomains of cAMP. Since the spatio-temporal organisation of the cAMP signalling pathway in adipocytes is still unclear, we sought to monitor real-time cAMP dynamics by live cell imaging in pre-mature and mature brown adipocytes. METHODS: We measured the real-time dynamics of cAMP in murine pre-mature and mature brown adipocytes during stimulation of individual ß-AR subtypes, as well as its regulation by PDEs using a Förster Resonance Energy Transfer based biosensor and pharmacological tools. We also correlated these data with ß-AR stimulated lipolysis and analysed the expression of ß-ARs and PDEs in brown adipocytes using qPCR and immunoblotting. Furthermore, subcellular distribution of PDEs was studied using cell fractionation and immunoblots. RESULTS: Using pre-mature and mature brown adipocytes isolated from transgenic mice expressing a highly sensitive cytosolic biosensor Epac1-camps, we established real-time measurements of cAMP responses. PDE4 turned out to be the major PDE regulating cytosolic cAMP in brown preadipocytes. Upon maturation, PDE3 gets upregulated and contributes with PDE4 to control ß1-AR-induced cAMP. Unexpectedly, ß3-AR initiated cAMP is resistant to increased PDE3 protein levels and simultaneously, the control of this microdomain by PDE4 is reduced upon brown adipocyte maturation. Therefore we postulate the existence of distinct cAMP pools in brown adipocytes. One cAMP pool is formed by ß1-AR associated with PDE3 and PDE4, while another pool is centred around ß3-AR and is much less controlled by these PDEs. Functionally, lower control of ß3-AR initiated cAMP by PDE3 and PDE4 facilitates brown adipocyte lipolysis, while lipolysis activated by ß1-AR and is under tight control of PDE3 and PDE4. CONCLUSIONS: We have established a real-time live cell imaging approach to analyse brown adipocyte cAMP dynamics in real-time using a cAMP biosensor. We showed that during the differentiation from pre-mature to mature murine brown adipocytes, there was a change in PDE-dependent compartmentation of ß1-and ß3-AR-initiated cAMP responses by PDE3 and PDE4 regulating lipolysis.

The Drosophila Arf GEF Steppke controls MAPK activation in EGFR signaling.

Guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) of the cytohesin protein family are regulators of GDP/GTP exchange for members of the ADP ribosylation factor (Arf) of small GTPases. They have been identified as modulators of various receptor tyrosine kinase signaling pathways including the insulin, the vascular epidermal growth factor (VEGF) and the epidermal growth factor (EGF) pathways. These pathways control many cellular functions, including cell proliferation and differentiation, and their misregulation is often associated with cancerogenesis. In vivo studies on cytohesins using genetic loss of function alleles are lacking, however, since knockout mouse models are not available yet. We have recently identified mutants for the single cytohesin Steppke (Step) in Drosophila and we could demonstrate an essential role of Step in the insulin signaling cascade. In the present study, we provide in vivo evidence for a role of Step in EGFR signaling during wing and eye development. By analyzing step mutants, transgenic RNA interference (RNAi) and overexpression lines for tissue specific as well as clonal analysis, we found that Step acts downstream of the EGFR and is required for the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and the induction of EGFR target genes. We further demonstrate that step transcription is induced by EGFR signaling whereas it is negatively regulated by insulin signaling. Furthermore, genetic studies and biochemical analysis show that Step interacts with the Connector Enhancer of KSR (CNK). We propose that Step may be part of a larger signaling scaffold coordinating receptor tyrosine kinase-dependent MAPK activation.