Hepatocyte mARC1 promotes fatty liver disease.

Background & Aims: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has a prevalence of ∼25% worldwide, with significant public health consequences yet few effective treatments. Human genetics can help elucidate novel biology and identify targets for new therapeutics. Genetic variants in mitochondrial amidoxime-reducing component 1 () have been associated with NAFLD and liver-related mortality; however, its pathophysiological role and the cell type(s) mediating these effects remain unclear.

MLX plays a key role in lipid and glucose metabolism in humans: Evidence from in vitro and in vivo studies.

Background And Aim: Enhanced hepatic de novo lipogenesis (DNL) has been proposed as an underlying mechanism for the development of NAFLD and insulin resistance. Max-like protein factor X (MLX) acts as a heterodimer binding partner for glucose sensing transcription factors and inhibition of MLX or downstream targets has been shown to alleviate intrahepatic triglyceride (IHTG) accumulation in mice. However, its effect on insulin sensitivity remains unclear.

Immunostaining for DNA Modifications: Computational Analysis of Confocal Images.

For several decades, 5-methylcytosine (5mC) has been thought to be the only DNA modification with a functional significance in metazoans. The discovery of enzymatic oxidation of 5mC to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC) and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC) as well as detection of N6-methyladenine (6mA) in the DNA of multicellular organisms provided additional degrees of complexity to the epigenetic research. According to a growing body of experimental evidence, these novel DNA modifications may play specific roles in different cellular and developmental processes.

Dynamics of 5-carboxylcytosine during hepatic differentiation: Potential general role for active demethylation by DNA repair in lineage specification.

Patterns of DNA methylation (5-methylcytosine, 5mC) are rearranged during differentiation contributing to the regulation of cell type-specific gene expression. TET proteins oxidize 5mC to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC), and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC). Both 5fC and 5caC can be recognized and excised from DNA by thymine-DNA glycosylase (TDG) followed by the subsequent incorporation of unmodified cytosine into the abasic site via the base excision repair (BER) pathway.