RESUMO
Retinoids play critical roles in development, immunity, and lipid metabolism, and their deficiency leads to various human disorders. Yet, tools for sensing retinoids inâ vivo are lacking, which limits the understanding of retinoid distribution, dynamics and functions in living organisms. Here, using hyperspectral stimulated Raman scattering microscopy, we discover a previously unknown cytoplasmic store of retinoids in Caenorahbditis elegans. Following the temporal dynamics of retinoids, we reveal that their levels are positively correlated with fat storage, and their supplementation slows down fat loss during starvation. We also discover that retinoids promote fat unsaturation in response to high-glucose stress, and improve organism survival. Together, our studies report a new method for tracking the spatiotemporal dynamics of retinoids in living organisms, and suggest the crucial roles of retinoids in maintaining metabolic homeostasis and enhancing organism fitness upon developmental and dietary stresses.
Assuntos
Metabolismo dos Lipídeos , Retinoides/metabolismo , Análise Espectral Raman , Animais , Caenorhabditis elegans , Citoplasma/metabolismo , Longevidade , Lisossomos/metabolismo , Microscopia , Retinoides/químicaRESUMO
Invasive cells use transient, energy-consuming protrusions to breach basement membrane (BM) barriers. Using the ATP sensor PercevalHR during anchor cell (AC) invasion in Caenorhabditis elegans, we show that BM invasion is accompanied by an ATP burst from mitochondria at the invasive front. RNAi screening and visualization of a glucose biosensor identified two glucose transporters, FGT-1 and FGT-2, which bathe invasive front mitochondria with glucose and facilitate the ATP burst to form protrusions. FGT-1 localizes at high levels along the invasive membrane, while FGT-2 is adaptive, enriching most strongly during BM breaching and when FGT-1 is absent. Cytosolic glycolytic enzymes that process glucose for mitochondrial ATP production cluster with invasive front mitochondria and promote higher mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP levels. Finally, we show that UNC-6 (netrin), which polarizes invasive protrusions, also orients FGT-1. These studies reveal a robust and integrated energy acquisition, processing, and delivery network that powers BM breaching.
Assuntos
Proteínas de Caenorhabditis elegans , Actinas/metabolismo , Trifosfato de Adenosina/metabolismo , Membrana Basal/metabolismo , Proteínas de Caenorhabditis elegans/genética , Proteínas de Caenorhabditis elegans/metabolismo , Movimento Celular , Glucose/metabolismo , Mitocôndrias/metabolismoRESUMO
Lipids play crucial roles in regulating aging and longevity. In the past few decades, a series of genetic pathways have been discovered to regulate lifespan in model organisms. Interestingly, many of these regulatory pathways are linked to lipid metabolism and lipid signaling. Lipid metabolic enzymes undergo significant changes during aging and are regulated by different longevity pathways. Lipids also actively modulate lifespan and health span as signaling molecules. In this review, we summarize recent insights into the roles of lipid metabolism and lipid signaling in aging and discuss lipid-related interventions in promoting longevity.
Assuntos
Metabolismo dos Lipídeos , Lipídeos/química , Longevidade/fisiologia , Transdução de Sinais , Animais , Humanos , Lipoproteínas/metabolismo , Receptores de Superfície Celular/metabolismoRESUMO
Lipid metabolism is a fundamental physiological process necessary for cellular and organism health. Dysregulation of lipid metabolism often elicits obesity and many associated diseases including cardiovascular disorders, type II diabetes, and cancer. To advance the current understanding of lipid metabolic regulation, quantitative methods to precisely measure in vivo lipid storage levels in time and space have become increasingly important and useful. Traditional approaches to analyze lipid storage are semi-quantitative for microscopic assessment or lacking spatio-temporal information for biochemical measurement. Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy is a label-free chemical imaging technology that enables rapid and quantitative detection of lipids in live cells with a subcellular resolution. As the contrast is exploited from intrinsic molecular vibrations, SRS microscopy also permits four-dimensional tracking of lipids in live animals. In the last decade, SRS microscopy has been widely used for small molecule imaging in biomedical research and overcome the major limitations of conventional fluorescent staining and lipid extraction methods. In the laboratory, we have combined SRS microscopy with the genetic and biochemical tools available to the powerful model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans, to investigate the distribution and heterogeneity of lipid droplets across different cells and tissues and ultimately to discover novel conserved signaling pathways that modulate lipid metabolism. Here, we present the working principles and the detailed setup of the SRS microscope and provide methods for its use in quantifying lipid storage at distinct developmental timepoints of wild-type and insulin signaling deficient mutant C. elegans.
Assuntos
Caenorhabditis elegans , Metabolismo dos Lipídeos , Animais , Diabetes Mellitus Tipo 2 , Humanos , Lipídeos , Microscopia , Microscopia Óptica não Linear , Análise Espectral RamanRESUMO
We investigated genome folding across the eukaryotic tree of life. We find two types of three-dimensional (3D) genome architectures at the chromosome scale. Each type appears and disappears repeatedly during eukaryotic evolution. The type of genome architecture that an organism exhibits correlates with the absence of condensin II subunits. Moreover, condensin II depletion converts the architecture of the human genome to a state resembling that seen in organisms such as fungi or mosquitoes. In this state, centromeres cluster together at nucleoli, and heterochromatin domains merge. We propose a physical model in which lengthwise compaction of chromosomes by condensin II during mitosis determines chromosome-scale genome architecture, with effects that are retained during the subsequent interphase. This mechanism likely has been conserved since the last common ancestor of all eukaryotes.
Assuntos
Adenosina Trifosfatases/genética , Adenosina Trifosfatases/fisiologia , Evolução Biológica , Cromossomos/ultraestrutura , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/genética , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/fisiologia , Eucariotos/genética , Genoma , Complexos Multiproteicos/genética , Complexos Multiproteicos/fisiologia , Adenosina Trifosfatases/química , Algoritmos , Animais , Nucléolo Celular/ultraestrutura , Núcleo Celular/ultraestrutura , Centrômero/ultraestrutura , Cromossomos/química , Cromossomos Humanos/química , Cromossomos Humanos/ultraestrutura , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/química , Genoma Humano , Genômica , Heterocromatina/ultraestrutura , Humanos , Interfase , Mitose , Modelos Biológicos , Complexos Multiproteicos/química , Telômero/ultraestruturaRESUMO
Olfactory and metabolic dysfunctions are intertwined phenomena associated with obesity and neurodegenerative diseases; yet how mechanistically olfaction regulates metabolic homeostasis remains unclear. Specificity of olfactory perception integrates diverse environmental odors and olfactory neurons expressing different receptors. Here, we report that specific but not all olfactory neurons actively regulate fat metabolism without affecting eating behaviors in Caenorhabditis elegans, and identified specific odors that reduce fat mobilization via inhibiting these neurons. Optogenetic activation or inhibition of the responsible olfactory neural circuit promotes the loss or gain of fat storage, respectively. Furthermore, we discovered that FLP-1 neuropeptide released from this olfactory neural circuit signals through peripheral NPR-4/neuropeptide receptor, SGK-1/serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase, and specific isoforms of DAF-16/FOXO transcription factor to regulate fat storage. Our work reveals molecular mechanisms underlying olfactory regulation of fat metabolism, and suggests the association between olfactory perception specificity of each individual and his/her susceptibility to the development of obesity.
Assuntos
Comportamento Alimentar/fisiologia , Metabolismo dos Lipídeos/fisiologia , Sistemas Neurossecretores/metabolismo , Obesidade/metabolismo , Percepção Olfatória/fisiologia , Animais , Animais Geneticamente Modificados , Butanonas/química , Caenorhabditis elegans , Proteínas de Caenorhabditis elegans/genética , Proteínas de Caenorhabditis elegans/metabolismo , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Fatores de Transcrição Forkhead/genética , Fatores de Transcrição Forkhead/metabolismo , Humanos , Neurônios/metabolismo , Neuropeptídeos/metabolismo , Odorantes , Optogenética , Proteínas Serina-Treonina Quinases/metabolismo , Receptores de Neuropeptídeos/metabolismoRESUMO
High-throughput screens at microscopic resolution can uncover molecular mechanisms of cellular dynamics, but remain technically challenging in live multicellular organisms. Here we present a genetic screening method using photo-highlighting for candidate selection on microscopes. We apply this method to stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy and systematically identify 57 Caenorhabditis elegans mutants with altered lipid distribution. Four of these mutants target the components of the Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) signaling pathway, revealing that BMP signaling inactivation causes exhaustion of lipid reserves in somatic tissues. Using SRS-based isotope tracing assay to quantitatively track lipid synthesis and mobilization, we discover that the BMP signaling mutants have increased rates of lipid mobilization. Furthermore, this increase is associated with the induction of mitochondrial ß-oxidation and mitochondrial fusion. Together these studies demonstrate a photo-highlighting microscopic strategy for genome-scale screens, leading to the discovery of new roles for BMP signaling in linking mitochondrial homeostasis and lipid metabolism.High-throughput genetic screens in animals could benefit from an easy way to mark positive hits. Here the authors introduce photo-highlighting using a photoconvertible fluorescent protein, and in combination with stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy, define a role for BMP signaling in lipid metabolism in C. elegans.
Assuntos
Proteínas Morfogenéticas Ósseas/metabolismo , Metabolismo dos Lipídeos , Mitocôndrias/metabolismo , Microscopia Óptica não Linear/métodos , Animais , Caenorhabditis elegans , HomeostaseRESUMO
Reproductive plasticity describes the ability of organisms to adjust parameters such as volume, rate, or timing of progeny production in order to maximize successful reproduction under different environmental conditions. Reproductive plasticity in response to environmental variation has been observed in a wide range of animals; however, the mechanisms involved in translating environmental cues into reproductive outcomes remain unknown. Here, we show that olfaction modulates reproductive timing and senescence through neuroendocrine signaling in Caenorhabditis elegans. On their preferred diet, worms demonstrate an increased rate of reproduction and an early onset of reproductive aging. Perception of the preferred diet's odor by AWB olfactory neurons elicits these adjustments by increasing germline proliferation, and optogenetic stimulation of AWB neurons is sufficient to accelerate reproductive timing in the absence of dietary inputs. Furthermore, AWB neurons act through neuropeptide signaling to regulate reproductive rate and senescence. These findings reveal a neuroendocrine nexus linking olfactory sensation and reproduction in response to environmental variation and indicate the significance of olfaction in the regulation of reproductive decline during aging.
Assuntos
Caenorhabditis elegans/fisiologia , Percepção Olfatória , Transdução de Sinais , Animais , Bacillus megaterium , Comamonas , Dieta , Escherichia coli , Cadeia Alimentar , Sistemas Neurossecretores/fisiologia , Reprodução , Especificidade da EspécieRESUMO
Advances in modern optical microscopy have provided unparalleled tools to study intracellular structure and function, yet visualizing lipid molecules within a cell remains challenging. Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) microscopy is a recently developed imaging modality that addresses this challenge. By selectively imaging the vibration of chemical moieties enriched in lipids, this technique allows for rapid imaging of lipid molecules in vivo without the need for perturbative extrinsic labels. SRS microscopy has been effectively employed in the study of fat metabolism, helping uncover novel regulators of lipid storage. This unit provides a brief introduction to the principle of SRS microscopy, and describes methods for its use in imaging lipids in cells, tissues, and whole organisms.