Publications by authors named "David E James"

Type 2 diabetes is preceded by a defective insulin response, yet our knowledge of the precise mechanisms is incomplete. Here, we investigate how insulin resistance alters skeletal muscle signaling and how exercise partially counteracts this effect. We measured parallel phenotypes and phosphoproteomes of insulin-resistant (IR) and insulin-sensitive (IS) men as they responded to exercise and insulin (n = 19, 114 biopsies), quantifying over 12,000 phosphopeptides in each biopsy.

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In the Greenlandic Inuit population, 4% are homozygous carriers of a genetic nonsense TBC1D4 p.Arg684Ter variant leading to loss of the muscle-specific isoform of TBC1D4 and an approximately tenfold increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Here we show the metabolic consequences of this variant in four female and four male homozygous carriers and matched controls.

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Metabolic diseases are caused by a complex interplay between genetics and the environment, yet many basic studies guiding our understanding of metabolism are confined to single genetic backgrounds, like the C57BL/6 J mouse. Recent studies across different genetic backgrounds have revealed profound phenotypic diversity, questioning the robustness and utility of observations derived from isolated strains. Those embracing genetic diversity will likely discover novel and penetrant mechanisms underlying metabolic dysregulation and disease, and findings may even benefit from increased translatability to humans.

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Background: Weight loss can improve the metabolic complications of obesity. However, it is unclear whether insulin resistance persists despite weight loss and whether any protective benefits are preserved following weight regain (weight cycling). The impact of genetic background on weight cycling is undocumented.

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Unlabelled: Mitochondria facilitate thousands of biochemical reactions, covering a broad spectrum of anabolic and catabolic processes. Here we demonstrate that the adipocyte mitochondrial proteome is markedly altered across multiple models of insulin resistance and reveal a consistent decrease in the level of the mitochondrial processing peptidase miPEP.

Objective: To determine the role of miPEP in insulin resistance.

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Despite the fact that genes and the environment are known to play a central role in islet function, our knowledge of how these parameters interact to modulate insulin secretory function remains relatively poor. Presently, we performed ex vivo glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and insulin content assays in islets of 213 mice from 13 inbred mouse strains on chow, Western diet (WD), and a high-fat, carbohydrate-free (KETO) diet. Strikingly, among these 13 strains, islets from the commonly used C57BL/6J mouse strain were the least glucose responsive.

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Metabolic disease is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, yet few studies have examined how these factors influence signal transduction, a key mediator of metabolism. Using mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteomics, we quantified 23,126 phosphosites in skeletal muscle of five genetically distinct mouse strains in two dietary environments, with and without acute in vivo insulin stimulation. Almost half of the insulin-regulated phosphoproteome was modified by genetic background on an ordinary diet, and high-fat high-sugar feeding affected insulin signalling in a strain-dependent manner.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Research reveals that a deficiency in coenzyme Q (CoQ) and high levels of ceramide in skeletal muscle mitochondria lead to mitochondrial dysfunction, contributing to IR.
  • * Reducing mitochondrial ceramide and increasing CoQ levels may help prevent IR and could inform new treatments for metabolic disorders and related conditions.
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Quantitative traits are often complex because of the contribution of many loci, with further complexity added by environmental factors. In medical research, systems genetics is a powerful approach for the study of complex traits, as it integrates intermediate phenotypes, such as RNA, protein, and metabolite levels, to understand molecular and physiological phenotypes linking discrete DNA sequence variation to complex clinical and physiological traits. The primary purpose of this review is to describe some of the resources and tools of systems genetics in humans and rodent models, so that researchers in many areas of biology and medicine can make use of the data.

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The ability of metabolically active tissues to increase glucose uptake in response to insulin is critical to whole-body glucose homeostasis. This report describes the Dual Tracer Test, a robust method involving sequential retro-orbital injection of [14C]2-deoxyglucose ([14C]2DG) alone, followed 40 min later by injection of [3H]2DG with a maximal dose of insulin to quantify both basal and insulin-stimulated 2DG uptake in the same mouse. The collection of both basal and insulin-stimulated measures from a single animal is imperative for generating high-quality data since differences in insulin action may be misinterpreted mechanistically if basal glucose uptake is not accounted for.

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Systems genetics has begun to tackle the complexity of insulin resistance by capitalising on computational advances to study high-diversity populations. 'Diversity Outbred in Australia (DOz)' is a population of genetically unique mice with profound metabolic heterogeneity. We leveraged this variance to explore skeletal muscle's contribution to whole-body insulin action through metabolic phenotyping and skeletal muscle proteomics of 215 DOz mice.

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Mitochondria play an important role in both normal heart function and disease etiology. We report analysis of common genetic variations contributing to mitochondrial and heart functions using an integrative proteomics approach in a panel of inbred mouse strains called the Hybrid Mouse Diversity Panel (HMDP). We performed a whole heart proteome study in the HMDP (72 strains, n=2-3 mice) and retrieved 848 mitochondrial proteins (quantified in ≥50 strains).

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Article Synopsis
  • - Vascular cells in human cardiac organoids (hCOs) significantly improve heart cell maturity, contraction strength, and their usefulness for studying diseases.
  • - The study developed an optimized method to create different types of heart-related cells that organize into structures similar to those found in living organisms, revealing how these cells communicate and support each other.
  • - Key findings include the roles of endothelial-derived LAMA5 and PDGFRβ signaling in enhancing heart contractility and suggesting that vascular cells influence the heart's response to inflammation and diastolic dysfunction.
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Article Synopsis
  • * New findings reveal that high levels of ceramides in muscle cells lead to coenzyme Q (CoQ) depletion and mitochondrial issues, contributing to IR.
  • * Reducing ceramide levels or supplementing with CoQ can improve mitochondrial function and insulin sensitivity, suggesting a potential pathway for developing new treatments for IR and related disorders.
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Article Synopsis
  • Heterozygous mutations in PIK3R1 cause activated PI3Kδ syndrome 2 (APDS2), which shares symptoms with APDS1 caused by PIK3CD mutations.
  • Research using a CRISPR/Cas9 mouse model and patient immune cells revealed that PIK3R1 mutations lead to unique cellular defects, including issues with B cell function and survival of pups.
  • The study found important differences in how PIK3R1 loss-of-function (LOF) and PIK3CD gain-of-function (GOF) mutations affect immune cell signaling and function, highlighting distinct genetic impacts on immune health.
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The failure of metabolic tissues to appropriately respond to insulin ("insulin resistance") is an early marker in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. Protein phosphorylation is central to the adipocyte insulin response, but how adipocyte signaling networks are dysregulated upon insulin resistance is unknown. Here we employ phosphoproteomics to delineate insulin signal transduction in adipocyte cells and adipose tissue.

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White adipose tissue is deposited mainly as subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), often associated with metabolic protection, and abdominal/visceral adipose tissue, which contributes to metabolic disease. To investigate the molecular underpinnings of these differences, we conducted comprehensive proteomics profiling of whole tissue and isolated adipocytes from these two depots across two diets from C57Bl/6J mice. The adipocyte proteomes from lean mice were highly conserved between depots, with the major depot-specific differences encoded by just 3% of the proteome.

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Improving muscle function has great potential to improve the quality of life. To identify novel regulators of skeletal muscle metabolism and function, we performed a proteomic analysis of gastrocnemius muscle from 73 genetically distinct inbred mouse strains, and integrated the data with previously acquired genomics and >300 molecular/phenotypic traits via quantitative trait loci mapping and correlation network analysis. These data identified thousands of associations between protein abundance and phenotypes and can be accessed online (https://muscle.

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Insulin-induced GLUT4 translocation to the plasma membrane in muscle and adipocytes is crucial for whole-body glucose homeostasis. Currently, GLUT4 trafficking assays rely on overexpression of tagged GLUT4. Here we describe a high-content imaging platform for studying endogenous GLUT4 translocation in intact adipocytes.

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Microtubule-associated serine/threonine kinase-like (MASTL) has emerged as a critical regulator of mitosis and as a potential oncogene in a variety of cancer types. To date, Arpp-19/ENSA are the only known substrates of MASTL. However, with the roles of MASTL expanding and increased interest in development of MASTL inhibitors, it has become critical to determine if there are additional substrates and what the optimal consensus motif for MASTL is.

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Trafficking regulator of GLUT4-1, TRARG1, positively regulates insulin-stimulated GLUT4 trafficking and insulin sensitivity. However, the mechanism(s) by which this occurs remain(s) unclear. Using biochemical and mass spectrometry analyses we found that TRARG1 is dephosphorylated in response to insulin in a PI3K/Akt-dependent manner and is a novel substrate for GSK3.

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Over the years it has been established that SIN1, a key component of mTORC2, could interact with Ras family small GTPases through its Ras-binding domain (RBD). The physical association of Ras and SIN1/mTORC2 could potentially affect both mTORC2 and Ras-ERK pathways. To decipher the precise molecular mechanism of this interaction, we determined the high-resolution structures of HRas/KRas-SIN1 RBD complexes, showing the detailed interaction interface.

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The pattern of weight loss and regain, termed "weight cycling," is common in overweight individuals. It is unclear whether the well-established benefits of weight loss persist following weight regain or whether weight cycling is harmful. Human studies of weight cycling have conflicting results reflecting limitations of the observational designs of these studies.

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