Heterologous expression of an active rat regulatory protein of glucokinase

Regulation of hepatic metabolism by enteral delivery of nutrients

The liver plays a unique role in nutrient homeostasis. Its anatomical location makes it ideally suited to control the systemic supply of absorbed nutrients, and it is the primary organ that can both consume and produce substantial amounts of glucose. Moreover, it is the site of a substantial fraction (about 25 %) of the body's protein synthesis, and the liver and other organs of the splanchnic bed play an important role in sparing dietary N by storing ingested amino acids. This hepatic anabolism is under the control of hormonal and nutritional changes that occur during food intake. In particular, the route of nutrient delivery, i.e. oral (or intraportal) v. peripheral venous, appears to impact upon the disposition of the macronutrients and also to affect both hepatic and whole-body nutrient metabolism. Intraportal glucose delivery significantly enhances net hepatic glucose uptake, compared with glucose infusion via a peripheral vein. On the other hand, concomitant intraportal infusion of both glucose and gluconeogenic amino acids significantly decreases net hepatic glucose uptake, compared with infusion of the same mass of glucose by itself. Delivery of amino acids via the portal vein may enhance their hepatic uptake, however. Elevation of circulating lipids under postprandial conditions appears to impair both hepatic and whole-body glucose disposal. Thus, the liver's role in nutrient disposal and metabolism is highly responsive to the route of nutrient delivery, and this is an important consideration in planning nutrition support and optimising anabolism in vulnerable patients.

Evolution of vertebrate glucokinase regulatory protein from a bacterial N-acetylmuramate 6-phosphate etherase

Mammalian GKRP [GK (glucokinase) regulatory protein], a fructose 6-phosphate and fructose 1-phosphate sensitive inhibitor of GK, appears to have resulted from the duplication of a gene similar to bacterial N-acetylmuramate 6-phosphate etherase MurQ. In the present study, we show that several genomes of primitive eukaryotes encode a GKRP-like protein with two MurQ repeats. Recombinant Haemophilus influenzae MurQ and the GKRP homologue of the amoeboflagellate Naegleria gruberi both behaved as excellent N-acetylmuramate 6-phosphate etherases, with Kcat values (83 and 20 s(-1)) at least as high as that reported for Escherichia coli MurQ. In contrast, rat and Xenopus GKRP displayed much lower etherase activities (Kcat=0.08 and 0.05 s(-1) respectively). The etherase activity of rat GKRP was inhibited by ligands (fructose 6-phosphate, fructose 1-phosphate and sorbitol 6-phosphate) known to regulate its interaction with GK and by mutations affecting the binding of these phosphate esters. This indicated that these phosphate esters all bind to a single regulatory site, which evolved from the original catalytic site. Sorbitol 6-phosphate and other phosphate esters also inhibited the etherase activity of Xenopus GKRP, but did not affect its ability to inhibit GK. Thus, unlike what was previously thought, Xenopus GKRP has a binding site for phosphate esters, but this site is uncoupled from the GK-binding site. Taken together, these data indicate that duplication of the murQ gene led to a eukaryotic-type etherase, which subsequently evolved to GKRP by acquiring a new binding specificity while losing most of its etherase activity.

A defect in glucose-induced dissociation of glucokinase from the regulatory protein in Zucker diabetic fatty rats in the early stage of diabetes

Effect of stimulation of glucokinase (GK) export from the nucleus by small amounts of sorbitol on hepatic glucose flux in response to elevated plasma glucose was examined in 6-h fasted Zucker diabetic fatty rats at 10 wk of age. Under basal conditions, plasma glucose, insulin, and glucagon were ∼8 mM, 2,000 pmol/l, and 60 ng/l, respectively. Endogenous glucose production (EGP) was 44 ± 4 μmol·kg−1·min−1. When plasma glucose was raised to ∼17 mM, GK was still predominantly localized with its inhibitory protein in the nucleus. EGP was not suppressed. When sorbitol was infused at 5.6 and 16.7 μmol·kg−1·min−1, along with the increase in plasma glucose, GK was exported to the cytoplasm. EGP (23 ± 19 and 12 ± 5 μmol·kg−1·min−1) was suppressed without a decrease in glucose 6-phosphatase flux (145 ± 23 and 126 ± 16 vs. 122 ± 10 μmol·kg−1·min−1without sorbitol) but increased in glucose phosphorylation as indicated by increases in glucose recycling (122 ± 17 and 114 ± 19 vs. 71 ± 11 μmol·kg−1·min−1), glucose-6-phosphate content (254 ± 32 and 260 ± 35 vs. 188 ± 20 nmol/g liver), fractional contribution of plasma glucose to uridine 5′-diphosphate-glucose flux (43 ± 8 and 42 ± 8 vs. 27 ± 6%), and glycogen synthesis from plasma glucose (20 ± 4 and 22 ± 5 vs. 9 ± 4 μmol glucose/g liver). The decreased glucose effectiveness to suppress EGP and stimulate hepatic glucose uptake may result from failure of the sugar to activate GK by stimulating the translocation of the enzyme.

Organization of the human glucokinase regulator gene GCKR

Glucokinase plays an important role in regulating insulin secretion in response to changes in blood glucose levels. As a result, one form of maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY) results from haploinsufficiency of glucokinase. In both liver and pancreatic islet, glucokinase is allosterically regulated by an inhibitory protein (glucokinase regulatory protein, GCKR). GCKR has therefore become an important gene for functional analysis in type 2 diabetes. To allow genetic assessment of any such role, we have determined the structure of the human GCKR gene. Characterization of P1 and YAC clones containing GCKR shows it to consist of 19 exons spanning 27 kb. RT-PCR, RACE, and RNase protection experiments defined a transcriptional start site for GCKR 66 bp upstream of the initiation codon, but provided no evidence for islet cell specific alternative splicing in the rat. By SSCP screening, a common polymorphic sequence variant has been defined within exon 15 of human GCKR, at nt 1400 of the cDNA. This alters amino acid residue 446 from proline, conserved in rat and Xenopus, to leucine.

Gene expression of glucokinase regulatory protein in regenerating rat liver

The activity and messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of glucokinase, and the concentration and mRNA levels of its regulatory protein, were analyzed during liver regeneration. The activity of glucokinase and the concentration of its regulatory protein decreased to 30% and 50%, respectively, after liver resection, remaining low after 1 week. No significant variations in the level of these proteins were found in sham-operated animals. The regulatory protein/glucokinase molar ratio increased during the replicative phase, to a maximum at 48 hours. The mRNA levels of glucokinase and of its regulatory protein decreased rapidly after partial hepatectomy to minimum values at 6 hours (15%) and at 12 hours (4%), respectively, returning to normal values at 24 hours and 168 hours, respectively. Sham-operated animals showed a similar decrease in mRNA levels during the prereplicative phase of liver regeneration, suggesting that the initial effects observed in the gene expression of these proteins were due to surgical stress. During the replicative phase, a specific inhibition of the regulatory protein's gene expression was observed in the regenerating liver. A decrease in the content of regulatory protein and the glucokinase activity, and an increase in the molar ratio of these two proteins correlate with the observed decrease in glycolytic flux, providing further evidence that the phosphorylation of glucose is a control point in the glycolytic/gluconeogenic flux during liver regeneration.