Molecular clocks in the periphery coordinate tissue-specific daily biorhythms by integrating input from the hypothalamic master clock and intracellular metabolic signals. One such key metabolic signal is the cellular concentration of NAD, which oscillates along with its biosynthetic enzyme, nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT). NAD levels feed back into the clock to influence rhythmicity of biological functions, yet whether this metabolic fine-tuning occurs ubiquitously across cell types and is a core clock feature is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThermogenic adipocytes possess a therapeutically appealing, energy-expending capacity, which is canonically cold-induced by ligand-dependent activation of β-adrenergic G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Here, we uncover an alternate paradigm of GPCR-mediated adipose thermogenesis through the constitutively active receptor, GPR3. We show that the N terminus of GPR3 confers intrinsic signaling activity, resulting in continuous Gs-coupling and cAMP production without an exogenous ligand.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThyroid hormones are important for homeostatic control of energy metabolism and body temperature. Although skeletal muscle is considered a key site for thyroid action, the contribution of thyroid hormone receptor signaling in muscle to whole-body energy metabolism and body temperature has not been resolved. Here, we show that T3-induced increase in energy expenditure requires thyroid hormone receptor alpha 1 (TRα ) in skeletal muscle, but that T3-mediated elevation in body temperature is achieved in the absence of muscle-TRα .
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