RESUMO
In skeletal muscle, autophagy is activated in multiple physiological and pathological conditions, notably through the transcriptional regulation of autophagy-related genes by FoxO3. However, recent evidence suggests that autophagy could also be regulated by post-transcriptional mechanisms. The purpose of the study was therefore to determine the temporal regulation of transcriptional and post-transcriptional events involved in the control of autophagy during starvation (4h) and nutrient restoration (4h) in C2C12 myotubes. Starvation was associated with an activation of autophagy (decrease in mTOR activity, increase in AMPK activity and Ulk1 phosphorylation on Ser467), an increase in autophagy flux (increased LC3B-II/LC3B-I ratio, LC3B-II level and LC3B-positive punctate), and an increase in the content of autophagy-related proteins (Ulk1, Atg13, Vps34, and Atg5-Atg12 conjugate). Our data also indicated that the content of autophagy-related proteins was essentially maintained when nutrient sufficiency was restored. By contrast, mRNA level of Ulk1, Atg5, Bnip3, LC3B and Gabarapl1 did not increase in response to starvation. Accordingly, binding of FoxO3 transcription factor on LC3B promoter was only increased at the end of the starvation period, whereas mRNA levels of Atrogin1/MAFbx and MuRF1, two transcriptional targets of FoxO involved in ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, were markedly increased at this time. Together, these data provide evidence that target genes of FoxO3 are differentially regulated during starvation and that starvation of C2C12 myotubes is associated with a post-transcriptional regulation of autophagy.
Assuntos
Autofagia , Regulação da Expressão Gênica , Fibras Musculares Esqueléticas/patologia , Músculo Esquelético/patologia , Fenômenos Fisiológicos da Nutrição , Processamento Pós-Transcricional do RNA , Inanição , Animais , Proteína 5 Relacionada à Autofagia , Proteína Homóloga à Proteína-1 Relacionada à Autofagia , Western Blotting , Células Cultivadas , Imunoprecipitação da Cromatina , Imunofluorescência , Proteínas de Membrana/genética , Proteínas de Membrana/metabolismo , Camundongos , Proteínas Associadas aos Microtúbulos/genética , Proteínas Associadas aos Microtúbulos/metabolismo , Proteínas Mitocondriais/genética , Proteínas Mitocondriais/metabolismo , Fibras Musculares Esqueléticas/metabolismo , Músculo Esquelético/metabolismo , Proteínas Serina-Treonina Quinases/genética , Proteínas Serina-Treonina Quinases/metabolismo , RNA Mensageiro/genética , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase em Tempo Real , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase Via Transcriptase Reversa , Transdução de Sinais , Serina-Treonina Quinases TOR/genética , Serina-Treonina Quinases TOR/metabolismoRESUMO
A large part of the reliability of reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) data depends on technical variations. Such variations are mainly attributable to the reverse transcription step. Standardization is a key factor in decreasing the intersample variability. However, an ideal standardization is not always possible, and compromises must be found. Due to technical requirements, the current consensus is that a constant amount of total RNA should be used for the RT step (CA-RT). Because RNA isolation yields are variable, such a practice requires the use of variable volumes of nucleic acid extracts in RT reaction. We demonstrate that some RNA extracts contain both exogenous and endogenous inhibitors. These inhibitors induce a decrease in RT efficiency that significantly impairs the reliability of RT-qPCR data. Conversely, these inhibitors have a slight effect on the qPCR step. To overcome such drawbacks, we proposed to carry out the RT reaction with a constant volume of RNA extract by preserving a constant RNA amount through the supplementation of yeast transfer RNA (CV-RT). We show that CV-RT, compared with the usual CA-RT, allows us to decrease the RT-qPCR variability induced by intersample differences. Such a decrease is a prerequisite for the reliability of messenger RNA quantification.
