RESUMO
The fat body is responsible for a variety of functions related to energy metabolism in arthropods, by controlling the processes of de novo glucose production (gluconeogenesis) and glycogen metabolism. The rate-limiting factor of gluconeogenesis is the enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), generally considered to be the first committed step in this pathway. Although the study of PEPCK and gluconeogenesis has been for decades restricted to mammalian models, especially focusing on muscle and liver tissue, current research has demonstrated particularities about the regulation of this enzyme in arthropods, and described new functions. This review will focus on arthropod PEPCK, discuss different aspects to PEPCK regulation and function, its general role in the regulation of gluconeogenesis and other pathways. The text also presents our views on potentially important new directions for research involving this enzyme in a variety of metabolic adaptations (e.g. diapause), discussing enzyme isoforms, roles during arthropod embryogenesis, as well as involvement in vector-pathogen interactions, contributing to a better understanding of insect vectors of diseases and their control.
Assuntos
Artrópodes , Animais , Artrópodes/metabolismo , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (GTP)/metabolismo , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/genética , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/metabolismo , Glucose/metabolismo , Homeostase , Mamíferos/metabolismoRESUMO
Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) catalyses the reversible reaction of decarboxylation and phosphorylation of oxaloacetate (OAA) to generate phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) and CO2 playing mainly a gluconeogenic role in green algae. We found two PEPCK isoforms in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and we cloned, purified and characterised both enzymes. ChlrePEPCK1 is more active as decarboxylase than ChlrePEPCK2. ChlrePEPCK1 is hexameric and its activity is affected by citrate, phenylalanine and malate, while ChlrePEPCK2 is monomeric and it is regulated by citrate, phenylalanine and glutamine. We postulate that the two PEPCK isoforms found originate from alternative splicing of the gene or regulated proteolysis of the enzyme. The presence of these two isoforms would be part of a mechanism to finely regulate the biological activity of PEPCKs.
Assuntos
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii , Fosfoenolpiruvato , Chlamydomonas reinhardtii/genética , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/genética , Isoformas de Proteínas , Fenilalanina , CitratosRESUMO
The mosquito Aedes aegypti undertakes a shift in carbohydrate metabolism during embryogenesis, including an increase in the activity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), a key gluconeogenic enzyme, at critical steps of embryo development. All eukaryotes studied to date present two PEPCK isoforms, namely PEPCK-M (mitochondrial) and PEPCK-C (cytosolic). In A. aegypti, however, these proteins are so far uncharacterized. In the present work we describe two A. aegypti PEPCK isoforms by sequence alignment, protein modeling, and transcription analysis in different tissues, as well as PEPCK enzymatic activity assays in mitochondrial and cytoplasmic compartments during oogenesis and embryogenesis. First, we characterized the protein sequences compared to other organisms, and identified conserved sites and key amino acids. We also performed structure modeling for AePEPCK(M) and AePEPCK(C), identifying highly conserved structural sites, as well as a signal peptide in AePEPCK(M) localized in a very hydrophobic region. Moreover, after blood meal and during mosquito oogenesis and embryogenesis, both PEPCKs isoforms showed different transcriptional profiles, suggesting that mRNA for the cytosolic form is transmitted maternally, whereas the mitochondrial form is synthesized by the zygote. Collectively, these results improve our understanding of mosquito physiology and may yield putative targets for developing new methods for A. aegypti control.
Assuntos
Citosol/metabolismo , Desenvolvimento Embrionário , Regulação da Expressão Gênica no Desenvolvimento , Gluconeogênese , Glucose/metabolismo , Oogênese , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/metabolismo , Aedes , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Animais , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/genética , Filogenia , Isoformas de Proteínas , Homologia de SequênciaRESUMO
The phosphoenolpyruvate-pyruvate-oxaloacetate node is a major branch within the central carbon metabolism and acts as a connection point between glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, and the TCA cycle. Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, pyruvate carboxylase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, malic enzymes, and pyruvate kinase, among others, are enzymes included in this node. We determined the mRNA levels and specific activity profiles of some of these genes and enzymes in Streptomyces coelicolor M-145. The results obtained in the presence of glucose demonstrated that all genes studied of the phosphoenolpyruvate-pyruvate-oxaloacetate node were expressed, although at different levels, with 10- to 100-fold differences. SCO3127 (phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase gene) and SCO5261 (NADP+-dependent malic enzyme gene) showed the highest expression in the rapid growth phase, and the mRNA levels corresponding to SCO5896 (phosphoenolpyruvate-utilizing enzyme gene), and SCO0546 (pyruvate carboxylase gene) increased 5- to 10-fold towards the stationary phase. In casamino acids, in general mRNA levels of S. coelicolor were lower than in glucose, however, results showed greater mRNA expression of SCO4979 (PEP carboxykinase), SCO0208 (pyruvate phosphate dikinase gene), and SCO5261 (NADP+-dependent malic enzyme). These results suggest that PEP carboxylase (SCO3127) is an important enzyme during glucose catabolism and oxaloacetate replenishment. On the other hand, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, pyruvate phosphate dikinase, and NADP+-malic enzyme could have an important role in gluconeogenesis in S. coelicolor.
Assuntos
Gluconeogênese/genética , Glucose/metabolismo , Streptomyces coelicolor/metabolismo , Ciclo do Ácido Cítrico/genética , Metabolismo Energético , Expressão Gênica , Genes Bacterianos , Malato Desidrogenase/genética , Malato Desidrogenase/metabolismo , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/genética , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/metabolismo , Piruvato Carboxilase/genética , Piruvato Carboxilase/metabolismo , Streptomyces coelicolor/genéticaRESUMO
Pioglitazone has been used for the treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) related to diabetes. The role of adiponectin in pioglitazone-induced improvements in NAFLD was studied by using wild-type (adipoWT) and adiponectin knockout (adipoKO) mice. High-fat diet fed mice were insulin resistant, glucose intolerant and had increased hepatic lipid accumulation as evidenced by increased NAFLD activity score. Despite pioglitazone has improved insulin resistance in both genotypes, hepatic steatosis was only improved in adipoWT obese mice. Amelioration of NAFLD in adipoWT mice promoted by pioglitazone was associated with up-regulation of Pparg, Fgf21 and down-regulation of Pepck liver expression. On the other hand, resistance to pioglitazone treatment in adipoKO mice was associated with increased expression of miR-192 and Hsl, which was not followed by increased fatty acid oxidation. In conclusion, our data provides evidence that increased adiponectin production by pioglitazone is necessary for its beneficial action on NAFLD.
Assuntos
Adiponectina/genética , Adiponectina/metabolismo , Hepatopatia Gordurosa não Alcoólica/tratamento farmacológico , Pioglitazona/administração & dosagem , Animais , Dieta Hiperlipídica/efeitos adversos , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Fatores de Crescimento de Fibroblastos/genética , Técnicas de Inativação de Genes , Resistência à Insulina , Camundongos , Hepatopatia Gordurosa não Alcoólica/induzido quimicamente , Hepatopatia Gordurosa não Alcoólica/genética , Hepatopatia Gordurosa não Alcoólica/metabolismo , PPAR gama/genética , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/genética , Pioglitazona/farmacologiaRESUMO
Herein, we evaluate a mimotope-based synthetic peptidenamed NC41 to diagnose neurocysticercosis (NC), a neglected parasitic disease and a major cause of epilepsy worldwide. NC41 synthetic peptide was evaluated to diagnose NC, and total saline extract from Taenia solium metacestodes (SE) was used as control. Serum samples from patients with NC (n = 40), other parasitic diseases (n = 43), and healthy individuals (n = 40) were tested. Diagnostic parameters such as sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), likelihood ratio (LR), and area under curve (AUC) were calculated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The sequence from T. solium phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) was used for epitope prediction, resulting in one high-scoring patch centered at residue L247. NC41 synthetic peptide reached high diagnostic performance (Se 97.5% and Sp 97.5%, LR+ 39 and AUC 0.997). Data from diagnostic parameters and in silico analyses proved the usefulness of NC41 synthetic peptide as a diagnostic marker for human NC.
Assuntos
Anticorpos Anti-Helmínticos/sangue , Antígenos de Helmintos/sangue , Neurocisticercose/diagnóstico , Peptídeos/imunologia , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/imunologia , Taenia solium/isolamento & purificação , Animais , Área Sob a Curva , Biomarcadores , Ensaio de Imunoadsorção Enzimática/métodos , Humanos , Neurocisticercose/sangue , Neurocisticercose/parasitologia , Peptídeos/genética , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/genética , Sensibilidade e Especificidade , Taenia solium/imunologiaRESUMO
Trypanosoma evansi is a monomorphic protist that can infect horses and other animal species of economic importance for man. Like the bloodstream form of the closely related species Trypanosoma brucei, T. evansi depends exclusively on glycolysis for its free-energy generation. In T. evansi as in other kinetoplastid organisms, the enzymes of the major part of the glycolytic pathway are present within organelles called glycosomes, which are authentic but specialized peroxisomes. Since T. evansi does not undergo stage-dependent differentiations, it occurs only as bloodstream forms, it has been assumed that the metabolic pattern of this parasite is identical to that of the bloodstream form of T. brucei. However, we report here the presence of two additional enzymes, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and PPi-dependent pyruvate phosphate dikinase in T. evansi glycosomes. Their colocalization with glycolytic enzymes within the glycosomes of this parasite has not been reported before. Both enzymes can make use of PEP for contributing to the production of ATP within the organelles. The activity of these enzymes in T. evansi glycosomes drastically changes the model assumed for the oxidation of glucose by this parasite.
Assuntos
Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/metabolismo , Piruvato Ortofosfato Diquinase/metabolismo , Trypanosoma/enzimologia , Animais , Digitonina/farmacologia , Glucosefosfato Desidrogenase/isolamento & purificação , Glucosefosfato Desidrogenase/metabolismo , Glicólise , Hexoquinase/isolamento & purificação , Hexoquinase/metabolismo , Cavalos , Indicadores e Reagentes/farmacologia , Malato Desidrogenase/isolamento & purificação , Malato Desidrogenase/metabolismo , Camundongos , Microcorpos/enzimologia , Microscopia de Fluorescência , Permeabilidade/efeitos dos fármacos , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/genética , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/isolamento & purificação , Fosfoglicerato Quinase/isolamento & purificação , Fosfoglicerato Quinase/metabolismo , Fosfopiruvato Hidratase/isolamento & purificação , Fosfopiruvato Hidratase/metabolismo , Piruvato Ortofosfato Diquinase/isolamento & purificação , Coelhos , Ratos , Ratos Wistar , Trypanosoma/efeitos dos fármacosRESUMO
The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of elevated tissue omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) status on age-related glucose intolerance utilizing the fat-1 transgenic mouse model, which can endogenously synthesize n-3 PUFA from omega-6 (n-6) PUFA. Fat-1 and wild-type mice, maintained on the same dietary regime of a 10% corn oil diet, were tested at two different ages (2 months old and 8 months old) for various glucose homeostasis parameters and related gene expression. The older wild-type mice exhibited significantly increased levels of blood insulin, fasting blood glucose, liver triglycerides, and glucose intolerance, compared to the younger mice, indicating an age-related impairment of glucose homeostasis. In contrast, these age-related changes in glucose metabolism were largely prevented in the older fat-1 mice. Compared to the older wild-type mice, the older fat-1 mice also displayed a lower capacity for gluconeogenesis, as measured by pyruvate tolerance testing (PTT) and hepatic gene expression of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and glucose 6 phosphatase (G6Pase). Furthermore, the older fat-1 mice showed a significant decrease in body weight, epididymal fat mass, inflammatory activity (NFκ-B and p-IκB expression), and hepatic lipogenesis (acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) and fatty acid synthase (FAS) expression), as well as increased peroxisomal activity (70-kDa peroxisomal membrane protein (PMP70) and acyl-CoA oxidase1 (ACOX1) expression). Altogether, the older fat-1 mice exhibit improved glucose homeostasis in comparison to the older wild-type mice. These findings support the beneficial effects of elevated tissue n-3 fatty acid status in the prevention and treatment of age-related chronic metabolic diseases.
Assuntos
Proteínas de Caenorhabditis elegans/metabolismo , Ácidos Graxos Dessaturases/metabolismo , Ácidos Graxos Ômega-3/metabolismo , Intolerância à Glucose/metabolismo , Acetil-CoA Carboxilase/genética , Acetil-CoA Carboxilase/metabolismo , Fatores Etários , Animais , Glicemia/metabolismo , Proteínas de Caenorhabditis elegans/genética , Ácidos Graxos Dessaturases/genética , Ácido Graxo Sintases/genética , Ácido Graxo Sintases/metabolismo , Expressão Gênica , Gluconeogênese/genética , Glucose/metabolismo , Intolerância à Glucose/genética , Glucose-6-Fosfatase/genética , Glucose-6-Fosfatase/metabolismo , Homeostase/genética , Immunoblotting , Insulina/sangue , Lipogênese/genética , Fígado/metabolismo , Masculino , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Camundongos Transgênicos , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/genética , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/metabolismo , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase Via Transcriptase ReversaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: In Escherichia coli phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) is a key central metabolism intermediate that participates in glucose transport, as precursor in several biosynthetic pathways and it is involved in allosteric regulation of glycolytic enzymes. In this work we generated W3110 derivative strains that lack the main PEP consumers PEP:sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS-) and pyruvate kinase isozymes PykA and PykF (PTS-pykA- and PTS-pykF-). To characterize the effects of these modifications on cell physiology, carbon flux distribution and aromatics production capacity were determined. RESULTS: When compared to reference strain W3110, strain VH33 (PTS-) displayed lower specific rates for growth, glucose consumption and acetate production as well as a higher biomass yield from glucose. These phenotypic effects were even more pronounced by the additional inactivation of PykA or PykF. Carbon flux analysis revealed that PTS inactivation causes a redirection of metabolic flux towards biomass formation. A cycle involving PEP carboxylase (Ppc) and PEP carboxykinase (Pck) was detected in all strains. In strains W3110, VH33 (PTS-) and VH35 (PTS-, pykF-), the net flux in this cycle was inversely correlated with the specific rate of glucose consumption and inactivation of Pck in these strains caused a reduction in growth rate. In the PTS- background, inactivation of PykA caused a reduction in Ppc and Pck cycling as well as a reduction in flux to TCA, whereas inactivation of PykF caused an increase in anaplerotic flux from PEP to OAA and an increased flux to TCA. The wild-type and mutant strains were modified to overproduce L-phenylalanine. In resting cells experiments, compared to reference strain, a 10, 4 and 7-fold higher aromatics yields from glucose were observed as consequence of PTS, PTS PykA and PTS PykF inactivation. CONCLUSIONS: Metabolic flux analysis performed on strains lacking the main activities generating pyruvate from PEP revealed the high degree of flexibility to perturbations of the central metabolic network in E. coli. The observed responses to reduced glucose uptake and PEP to pyruvate rate of conversion caused by PTS, PykA and PykF inactivation included flux rerouting in several central metabolism nodes towards anabolic biosynthetic reactions, thus compensating for carbon limitation in these mutant strains. The detected cycle involving Ppc and Pck was found to be required for maintaining the specific growth and glucose consumption rates in all studied strains. Strains VH33 (PTS-), VH34 (PTS-pykA-) and VH35 (PTS-pykF-) have useful properties for biotechnological processes, such as increased PEP availability and high biomass yields from glucose, making them useful for the production of aromatic compounds or recombinant proteins.
Assuntos
Escherichia coli/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Sistema Fosfotransferase de Açúcar do Fosfoenolpiruvato/metabolismo , Piruvato Quinase/metabolismo , Aminoácidos Aromáticos/metabolismo , Biomassa , Ciclo do Carbono , Escherichia coli/enzimologia , Escherichia coli/metabolismo , Isoenzimas/metabolismo , Mutação , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/genética , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxiquinase (ATP)/metabolismo , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxilase/genética , Fosfoenolpiruvato Carboxilase/metabolismoRESUMO
A homology model of Saccharomyces cerevisiae phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxykinase (ATP + oxaloacetate right arrow over left arrow ADP + PEP + CO(2)) in complex with its substrates shows that the isobutyl group of Leu460 is in close proximity to the adenine ring of the nucleotide, while the carboxyl group of Glu299 is within hydrogen-bonding distance of the ribose 2'OH. The Leu460Ala mutation caused three-fold and seven-fold increases in the K (m) for ADPMn(-) and ATPMn(2-), respectively, while the Glu299Ala mutation had no effect. Binding studies showed losses of approximately 2 kcal mol(-1) in the nucleotide binding affinity due to the Leu460Ala mutation and no effect for the Glu299Ala mutation. PEP carboxykinase utilized 2'deoxyADP and 2'deoxyATP as substrates with kinetic and equilibrium dissociation constants very similar to those of ADP and ATP, respectively. These results show that the hydrophobic interaction between Leu460 and the adenine ring of the nucleotide significantly contributed to the nucleotide affinity of the enzyme. The 2'deoxy nucleotide studies and the lack of an effect of the Glu299Ala mutation in nucleotide binding suggest that the possible hydrogen bond contributed by Glu299 and the ribose 2'OH group may not be relevant for nucleotide binding.