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Despite intensive drug development efforts and public health initiatives, obesity is increasing in incidence and predicted to affect over 50% of all adults worldwide by 2035. Being chronically overweight increases the risk of serious disease co-morbidities that, in turn, increase mortality and healthcare costs. Behavioral approaches to combat obesity, such as diet and exercise, rarely produce lasting weight loss commonly due to compensatory hyperphagia and hypometabolism. These limitations have stimulated interest in pharmacotherapies that target gut-derived peptide hormones involved in the regulation of energy homeostasis, such as PYY, GIP, CCK, and GLP-1. These peptides are secreted by different enteroendocrine cells distributed throughout the intestine in response to food intake, subsequently enhancing satiation signaling and ultimately promotes meal termination. However, a major challenge of FDA-approved and experimental weight-loss medications that target GI-derived satiation signals is the frequent occurrence of nausea and vomiting.

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Current Issue

Nutrient-driven histone acetylation underlies energy storage and mobilization

Linyun Chen, Lingyan Zhu, Huabing Xiao, Xiaotao Wang, ... Qiong Duan

Nutrient-driven histone acetylation underlies energy storage and mobilization

In natural settings, energy storage and mobilization maintain a dynamic balance in response to recurrent overfeeding and fasting. Imbalanced energy storage and mobilization lead to a variety of metabolic dysfunctions. However, whether the metabolic status directly couples with epigenetic modifications and transcriptional outputs remains unclear. Here, we aimed to investigate the epigenetic mechanism underlying this adaptive balance and observed that, in an overfeeding state, increased glucose availability is associated with enhanced histone acetylation coinciding with acetyl-CoA production in an acyl-CoA short-chain synthetase 2 (ACSS2)-dependent manner, contributing to energy storage (e.g., lipogenesis); in contrast, in the fasting state, elevated d-β-hydroxybutyrate levels are associated with altered histone acetylation distribution and transcriptional programs, supporting a metabolic shift from anabolism to catabolism, such as fatty acid oxidation. In both overfeeding and fasting states, acetylated lysines in the histone require BRD4 to recognize and initiate transcriptional regulation. Inhibition of BRD4 leads to context-dependent phenotypic effects: it ameliorates non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) pathology induced by a high-fat diet, while it exacerbates hepatic steatosis in fasted mice or mice fed a ketogenic diet. Thus, these findings highlights that epigenetic regulation of energy storage and mobilization is closely linked to the availability of glucose, and ketone bodies. Moreover, our study revealed that modulation of ACSS2-associated pathway may represent a potential strategy for treatment of metabolic diseases, such as NAFLD.

 

Articles in Press

Nutrient-driven histone acetylation underlies energy storage and mobilization

Linyun Chen, Lingyan Zhu, Huabing Xiao, Xiaotao Wang, ... Qiong Duan

Nutrient-driven histone acetylation underlies energy storage and mobilization

In natural settings, energy storage and mobilization maintain a dynamic balance in response to recurrent overfeeding and fasting. Imbalanced energy storage and mobilization lead to a variety of metabolic dysfunctions. However, whether the metabolic status directly couples with epigenetic modifications and transcriptional outputs remains unclear. Here, we aimed to investigate the epigenetic mechanism underlying this adaptive balance and observed that, in an overfeeding state, increased glucose availability is associated with enhanced histone acetylation coinciding with acetyl-CoA production in an acyl-CoA short-chain synthetase 2 (ACSS2)-dependent manner, contributing to energy storage (e.g., lipogenesis); in contrast, in the fasting state, elevated d-β-hydroxybutyrate levels are associated with altered histone acetylation distribution and transcriptional programs, supporting a metabolic shift from anabolism to catabolism, such as fatty acid oxidation. In both overfeeding and fasting states, acetylated lysines in the histone require BRD4 to recognize and initiate transcriptional regulation. Inhibition of BRD4 leads to context-dependent phenotypic effects: it ameliorates non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) pathology induced by a high-fat diet, while it exacerbates hepatic steatosis in fasted mice or mice fed a ketogenic diet. Thus, these findings highlights that epigenetic regulation of energy storage and mobilization is closely linked to the availability of glucose, and ketone bodies. Moreover, our study revealed that modulation of ACSS2-associated pathway may represent a potential strategy for treatment of metabolic diseases, such as NAFLD.

 

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13th
Helmholtz Diabetes Conference 

Munich, 21-23. Sep 2026                                                                                                                             

2024 impact factor: 6.6

You are what you eat

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