Loss of mitochondria long-chain fatty acid oxidation impairs skeletal muscle contractility by disrupting myofibril structure and calcium homeostasis.

Objective: Abnormal lipid metabolism in mammalian tissues can be highly deleterious, leading to organ failure. Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase 2 (CPT2) deficiency is an inherited metabolic disorder affecting the liver, heart, and skeletal muscle due to impaired mitochondrial oxidation of long-chain fatty acids (mLCFAO) for energy production.

Methods: However, the basis of tissue damage in mLCFAO disorders is not fully understood.

Medium-chain fatty acid oxidation is independent of l-carnitine in liver and kidney but not in heart and skeletal muscle.

Medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) consumption confers a wide range of health benefits that are highly distinct from long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs). A major difference between the metabolism of LCFAs compared with MCFAs is that mitochondrial LCFA oxidation depends on the carnitine shuttle, whereas MCFA mitochondrial oxidation is not. Although MCFAs are said to range from 6 to 14 carbons long based on physicochemical properties in vitro, the biological cut-off length of acyl chains that can bypass the carnitine shuttle in different mammalian tissues is unknown.

Lipid metabolism in dopaminergic neurons influences light entrainment.

Dietary lipids, particularly omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, are speculated to impact behaviors linked to the dopaminergic system, such as movement and control of circadian rhythms. However, the ability to draw a direct link between dopaminergic omega-3 fatty acid metabolism and behavioral outcomes has been limited to the use of diet-based approaches, which are confounded by systemic effects. Here, neuronal lipid metabolism was targeted in a diet-independent manner by manipulation of long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase 6 (ACSL6) expression.

Actin-related protein ACTL7B ablation leads to OAT with multiple morphological abnormalities of the flagellum and male infertility in mice†.

The formation of fertilisation-competent sperm requires spermatid morphogenesis (spermiogenesis), a poorly understood program that involves complex coordinated restructuring and specialised cytoskeletal structures. A major class of cytoskeletal regulators are the actin-related proteins (ARPs), which include conventional actin variants, and related proteins that play essential roles in complexes regulating actin dynamics, intracellular transport, and chromatin remodeling. Multiple testis-specific ARPs are well conserved among mammals, but their functional roles are unknown.

Skeletal muscle undergoes fiber type metabolic switch without myosin heavy chain switch in response to defective fatty acid oxidation.

Objective: Skeletal muscle is a heterogeneous and dynamic tissue that adapts to functional demands and substrate availability by modulating muscle fiber size and type. The concept of muscle fiber type relates to its contractile (slow or fast) and metabolic (glycolytic or oxidative) properties. Here, we tested whether disruptions in muscle oxidative catabolism are sufficient to prompt parallel adaptations in energetics and contractile protein composition.

A single bout of cycling exercise induces nucleosome repositioning in the skeletal muscle of lean and overweight/obese individuals.

Aim: To compare the molecular and metabolic effects of a single exercise bout in the skeletal muscle between lean and overweight/obese (Ov/Ob) individuals.

Materials And Methods: Participants recruited were men, aged 19-30 years, who were either lean (body mass index [BMI] < 25, 18.5-24.

Acyl-CoA synthetase 6 is required for brain docosahexaenoic acid retention and neuroprotection during aging.

The omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) inversely relates to neurological impairments with aging; however, limited nondietary models manipulating brain DHA have hindered a direct linkage. We discovered that loss of long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase 6 in mice (Acsl6-/-) depletes brain membrane phospholipid DHA levels, independent of diet. Here, Acsl6-/- brains contained lower DHA compared with controls across the life span.

Octanoate is differentially metabolized in liver and muscle and fails to rescue cardiomyopathy in CPT2 deficiency.

Long-chain fatty acid oxidation is frequently impaired in primary and systemic metabolic diseases affecting the heart; thus, therapeutically increasing reliance on normally minor energetic substrates, such as ketones and medium-chain fatty acids, could benefit cardiac health. However, the molecular fundamentals of this therapy are not fully known. Here, we explored the ability of octanoate, an eight-carbon medium-chain fatty acid known as an unregulated mitochondrial energetic substrate, to ameliorate cardiac hypertrophy in long-chain fatty acid oxidation-deficient hearts because of carnitine palmitoyltransferase 2 deletion (Cpt2).

Unique Epigenetic Programming Distinguishes Regenerative Spermatogonial Stem Cells in the Developing Mouse Testis.

Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) both self-renew and give rise to progenitors that initiate spermatogenic differentiation in the mammalian testis. Questions remain regarding the extent to which the SSC and progenitor states are functionally distinct. Here we provide the first multiparametric integrative analysis of mammalian germ cell epigenomes comparable with that done for >100 somatic cell types by the ENCODE Project.

Acyl-CoA synthetases as regulators of brain phospholipid acyl-chain diversity.

Each individual cell-type is defined by its distinct morphology, phenotype, molecular and lipidomic profile. The importance of maintaining cell-specific lipidomic profiles is exemplified by the numerous diseases, disorders, and dysfunctional outcomes that occur as a direct result of altered lipidome. Therefore, the mechanisms regulating cellular lipidome diversity play a role in maintaining essential biological functions.

Kinetic and Thermodynamic Analysis of Acetyl-CoA Activation of Staphylococcus aureus Pyruvate Carboxylase.

Allosteric regulation of pyruvate carboxylase (PC) activity is pivotal to maintaining metabolic homeostasis. In contrast, dysregulated PC activity contributes to the pathogenesis of numerous diseases, rendering PC a possible target for allosteric therapeutic development. Recent research efforts have focused on demarcating the role of acetyl-CoA, one of the most potent activators of PC, in coordinating catalytic events within the multifunctional enzyme.

TSPAN8 Expression Distinguishes Spermatogonial Stem Cells in the Prepubertal Mouse Testis.

Precise separation of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) from progenitor spermatogonia that lack stem cell activity and are committed to differentiation remains a challenge. To distinguish between these spermatogonial subtypes, we identified genes that exhibited bimodal mRNA levels at the single-cell level among undifferentiated spermatogonia from Postnatal Day 6 mouse testes, including Tspan8, Epha2, and Pvr, each of which encode cell surface proteins useful for cell selection. Transplantation studies provided definitive evidence that a TSPAN8-high subpopulation is enriched for SSCs.

Direct real-time quantification of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation efficiency in permeabilized skeletal muscle myofibers.

Oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) efficiency, defined as the ATP-to-O ratio, is a critical feature of mitochondrial function that has been implicated in health, aging, and disease. To date, however, the methods to measure ATP/O have primarily relied on indirect approaches or entail parallel rather than simultaneous determination of ATP synthesis and O2 consumption rates. The purpose of this project was to develop and validate an approach to determine the ATP/O ratio in permeabilized fiber bundles (PmFBs) from simultaneous measures of ATP synthesis (JATP) and O2 consumption (JO2 ) rates in real time using a custom-designed apparatus.

Age-related impairments in skeletal muscle PDH phosphorylation and plasma lactate are indicative of metabolic inflexibility and the effects of exercise training.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether plasma lactate and skeletal muscle glucose regulatory pathways, specifically PDH dephosphorylation, are impaired during hyperinsulinemic conditions in middle- to older-aged individuals and determine whether exercise training could improve key variables responsible for skeletal muscle PDH regulation. Eighteen young (19-29 yr; n = 9 males and 9 females) and 20 middle- to older-aged (57-82 yr; n = 10 males and 10 females) individuals underwent a 2-h euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp. Plasma samples were obtained at baseline and at 30, 50, 90, and 120 min for analysis of lactate, and skeletal muscle biopsies were performed at 60 min for analysis of protein associated with glucose metabolism.

Why Does Exercise "Trigger" Adaptive Protective Responses in the Heart?

Numerous epidemiological studies suggest that individuals who exercise have decreased cardiac morbidity and mortality. Pre-clinical studies in animal models also find clear cardioprotective phenotypes in animals that exercise, specifically characterized by lower myocardial infarction and arrhythmia. Despite the clear benefits, the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms that are responsible for exercise preconditioning are not fully understood.

Paternal long-term exercise programs offspring for low energy expenditure and increased risk for obesity in mice.

Obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 yr. The association between metabolic disorders in offspring of obese mothers with diabetes has long been known; however, a growing body of research indicates that fathers play a significant role through presently unknown mechanisms. Recent observations have shown that changes in paternal diet may result in transgenerational inheritance of the insulin-resistant phenotype.

Marker expression reveals heterogeneity of spermatogonia in the neonatal mouse testis.

Prospermatogonia transition to type A spermatogonia, which provide the source for the spermatogonial stem cell (SSC) pool. A percentage of these type A spermatogonia then differentiate to enter meiosis as spermatocytes by ∼P10. It is currently unclear as to when these distinct populations are initially formed in the neonatal testis, and when the expression of markers both characteristic of and required for the adult undifferentiated and differentiating states is established.

SMAD3 augments FoxO3-induced MuRF-1 promoter activity in a DNA-binding-dependent manner.

Muscle-specific RING finger-1 (MuRF-1), a ubiquitin ligase and key regulator of proteasome-dependent protein degradation, is highly expressed during skeletal muscle atrophy. The transcription factor forkhead box O3 (FoxO3) induces MuRF-1 expression, but the direct role of other major atrophy-related transcription factors, such as SMAD3, is largely unknown. The goal of this study was to determine whether SMAD3 individually regulates, or with FoxO3 coordinately regulates, MuRF-1 expression.

n-3 Polyunsaturated fatty acids exert immunomodulatory effects on lymphocytes by targeting plasma membrane molecular organization.

Fish oil, enriched in bioactive n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), has therapeutic value for the treatment of inflammation-associated disorders. The effects of n-3 PUFAs are pleiotropic and complex; hence, an understanding of their cellular targets and molecular mechanisms of action remains incomplete. Here we focus on recent data indicating n-3 PUFAs exert immunosuppressive effects on the function of effector and regulatory CD4(+) T cells.