Control of glucose phosphorylation in L6 myotubes by compartmentalization, hexokinase, and glucose transport

Metabolic reprogramming and dysregulated metabolism: cause, consequence and/or enabler of environmental carcinogenesis?

Environmental contributions to cancer development are widely accepted, but only a fraction of all pertinent exposures have probably been identified. Traditional toxicological approaches to the problem have largely focused on the effects of individual agents at singular endpoints. As such, they have incompletely addressed both the pro-carcinogenic contributions of environmentally relevant low-dose chemical mixtures and the fact that exposures can influence multiple cancer-associated endpoints over varying timescales. Of these endpoints, dysregulated metabolism is one of the most common and recognizable features of cancer, but its specific roles in exposure-associated cancer development remain poorly understood. Most studies have focused on discrete aspects of cancer metabolism and have incompletely considered both its dynamic integrated nature and the complex controlling influences of substrate availability, external trophic signals and environmental conditions. Emerging high throughput approaches to environmental risk assessment also do not directly address the metabolic causes or consequences of changes in gene expression. As such, there is a compelling need to establish common or complementary frameworks for further exploration that experimentally and conceptually consider the gestalt of cancer metabolism and its causal relationships to both carcinogenesis and the development of other cancer hallmarks. A literature review to identify environmentally relevant exposures unambiguously linked to both cancer development and dysregulated metabolism suggests major gaps in our understanding of exposure-associated carcinogenesis and metabolic reprogramming. Although limited evidence exists to support primary causal roles for metabolism in carcinogenesis, the universality of altered cancer metabolism underscores its fundamental biological importance, and multiple pleiomorphic, even dichotomous, roles for metabolism in promoting, antagonizing or otherwise enabling the development and selection of cancer are suggested.

Glucose metabolism in Legionella pneumophila: dependence on the Entner-Doudoroff pathway and connection with intracellular bacterial growth

Glucose metabolism in Legionella pneumophila was studied by focusing on the Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway with a combined genetic and biochemical approach. The bacterium utilized exogenous glucose for synthesis of acid-insoluble cell components but manifested no discernible increase in the growth rate. Assays with permeabilized cell preparations revealed the activities of three enzymes involved in the pathway, i.e., glucokinase, phosphogluconate dehydratase, and 2-dehydro-3-deoxy-phosphogluconate aldolase, presumed to be encoded by the glk, edd, and eda genes, respectively. Gene-disrupted mutants for the three genes and the ywtG gene encoding a putative sugar transporter were devoid of the ability to metabolize exogenous glucose, indicating that the pathway is almost exclusively responsible for glucose metabolism and that the ywtG gene product is the glucose transporter. It was also established that these four genes formed part of an operon in which the gene order was edd-glk-eda-ywtG, as predicted by genomic information. Intriguingly, while the mutants exhibited no appreciable change in growth characteristics in vitro, they were defective in multiplication within eukaryotic cells, strongly indicating that the ED pathway must be functional for the intracellular growth of the bacterium to occur. Curiously, while the deficient glucose metabolism of the ywtG mutant was successfully complemented by the ywtG(+) gene supplied in trans via plasmid, its defect in intracellular growth was not. However, the latter defect was also manifested in wild-type cells when a plasmid carrying the mutant ywtG gene was introduced. This phenomenon, resembling so-called dominant negativity, awaits further investigation.

Regulation of ceramide-induced neuronal death: cell metabolism meets neurodegeneration

The present review explores the role of ceramides in neuronal apoptosis, as well as the recent discovery of the signaling pathways involved in this process placing particular emphasis on the correlation between cellular metabolism and neuronal death. Endogenous levels of ceramides are increased following various pro-apoptotic stimuli which have been identified as potential causes of chronic and acute neurodegenerative diseases. Ceramides induce changes in multiple enzymes and cell signaling components. The early inhibition of the neuronal survival pathway regulated by phosphatidil-inositol-3-kinase/protein kinase B or AKT mediated by ceramide may be a relevant early event in the decision of neuronal survival/death. It may perturb several molecular and metabolic functions. In particular it might decrease glycolysis through rapid modulation of hexokinase activity. This would in turn generate limited amounts of mitochondrial substrates leading to mitochondrial dysfunction and neuronal apoptosis. Subtle and early metabolic alterations caused by inhibition of the PI3K/AKT pathway mediated by ceramide may potentially work with genes associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. Together they may be determinant steps in downstream events leading to neuronal apoptosis. Therefore, reinforcement of the PI3K/AKT pathway could constitute an important neuroprotective strategy.

Phosphorylation barriers to skeletal and cardiac muscle glucose uptakes in high-fat fed mice: studies in mice with a 50% reduction of hexokinase II

OBJECTIVE

Muscle glucose uptake (MGU) is regulated by glucose delivery to, transport into, and phosphorylation within muscle. The aim of this study was to determine the role of limitations in glucose phosphorylation in the control of MGU during either physiological insulin stimulation (4 mU x kg(-1) x min(-1)) or exercise with chow or high-fat feeding.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

C57BL/6J mice with (HK(+/-)) and without (WT) a 50% hexokinase (HK) II deletion were fed chow or high-fat diets and studied at 4 months of age during a 120-min insulin clamp or 30 min of treadmill exercise (n = 8-10 mice/group). 2-deoxy[(3)H]glucose was used to measure R(g), an index of MGU.

RESULTS

Body weight and fasting arterial glucose were increased by high-fat feeding and partial HK II knockout (HK(+/-)). Both high-fat feeding and partial HK II knockout independently created fasting hyperinsulinemia, a response that was increased synergistically with combined high-fat feeding and HK II knockout. Whole-body insulin action was suppressed by approximately 25% with either high-fat feeding or partial HK II knockout alone but by >50% when the two were combined. Insulin-stimulated R(g) was modestly impaired by high-fat feeding and partial HK II knockout independently ( approximately 15-20%) but markedly reduced by the two together ( approximately 40-50%). Exercise-stimulated R(g) was reduced by approximately 50% with high-fat feeding and partial HK II knockout alone and was not attenuated further by combining the two.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, impairments in whole-body metabolism and MGU due to high-fat feeding and partial HK II knockout combined during insulin stimulation are additive. In contrast, combining high-fat feeding and partial HK II knockout during exercise causes no greater impairment in MGU than the two manipulations independently. This suggests that MGU is impaired during exercise by high-fat feeding due to, in large part, a limitation in glucose phosphorylation. Together, these studies show that the high-fat-fed mouse is characterized by defects at multiple steps of the MGU system that are precipitated by different physiological conditions.

Insulin-like growth factor-1-dependent maintenance of neuronal metabolism through the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-Akt pathway is inhibited by C2-ceramide in CAD cells

Ceramide is a lipid second-messenger generated in response to stimuli associated with neurodegeneration that induces apoptosis, a mechanism underlying neuronal death in Parkinson's disease. We tested the hypothesis that insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) could mediate a metabolic response in CAD cells, a dopaminergic cell line of mesencephalic origin that differentiate into a neuronal-like phenotype upon serum removal, extend processes resembling neurites, synthesize abundant dopamine and noradrenaline and express the catecholaminergic biosynthetic enzymes tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine beta-hydroxylase, and that this process was phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-K)-Akt-dependent and could be inhibited by C(2)-ceramide. The metabolic response was evaluated as real-time changes in extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) using microphysiometry. The IGF-1-induced ECAR response was associated with increased glycolysis, determined by increased NAD(P)H reduction, elevated hexokinase activity and Akt phosphorylation. C(2)-ceramide inhibited all these changes in a dose-dependent manner, and was specific, as it was not induced by the inactive C(2)-ceramide analogue C(2)-dihydroceramide. Inhibition of the upstream kinase, PI 3-K, also inhibited Akt phosphorylation and the metabolic response to IGF-1, similar to C(2)-ceramide. Decreased mitochondrial membrane potential occurred after loss of Akt phosphorylation. These results show that IGF-1 can rapidly modulate neuronal metabolism through PI 3-K-Akt and that early metabolic inhibition induced by C(2)-ceramide involves blockade of the PI 3-K-Akt pathway, and may compromise the first step of glycolysis. This may represent a new early event in the C(2)-ceramide-induced cell death pathway that could coordinate subsequent changes in mitochondria and commitment of neurons to apoptosis.

Resistin impairs basal and insulin-induced glycogen synthesis by different mechanisms

In the present study, we investigated the mechanisms by which resistin (100 nM, 1 h) affects glycogen synthesis in L6 skeletal muscle cells. The activity of glycogen synthase, the major enzyme in glycogen synthesis, is determined by both its covalent phosphorylation and allostery through intracellular glucose-6-phosphate. Covalent phosphorylation of glycogen synthase was not altered by resistin and, accordingly, phosphorylation of GSK-3alpha/beta and Akt remained unchanged. The rate of glucose-6-phosphate formation, however, was decreased by resistin both in the absence and presence of insulin; in the absence of insulin, resistin decreased glucose-6-phosphate formation by reducing hexokinase type I activity without affecting glucose uptake; by contrast, in the presence of insulin, resistin decreased glucose-6-phosphate formation by reducing the Vmax of glucose uptake without changing hexokinase type I activity. In conclusion, short-term resistin incubation impairs glycogen synthesis by reducing the rate of glucose-6-phosphate formation involving, however, differential mechanisms in basal and insulin-stimulated states.

Allometric scaling of flight energetics in orchid bees: evolution of flux capacities and flux rates

The evolution of metabolic pathways involved in energy production was studied in the flight muscles of 28 species of orchid bees. Previous work revealed that wingbeat frequencies and mass-specific metabolic rates decline in parallel by threefold as body mass increases interspecifically over a 20-fold range. We investigated the correlated evolution of metabolic rates during hovering flight and the flux capacities, i.e. Vmaxvalues, of flight muscle enzymes involved in substrate catabolism, the Krebs cycle and the electron transport chain. Vmax at the hexokinase (HK) step scales allometrically with an exponent almost identical to those obtained for wingbeat frequency and mass-specific metabolic rate. Analysis of this relationship using phylogenetically independent contrasts supports the hypothesis of correlated evolution between HK activity and mass-specific metabolic rate. Although other enzymes scale allometrically with respect to body mass, e.g. trehalase, glycogen phosphorylase and citrate synthase, no other enzyme activities were correlated with metabolic rate after controlling for phylogenetic relatedness. Pathway flux rates were used with enzyme Vmax values to estimate fractional velocities(fraction of Vmax at which enzymes operate) for various reactions to gain insights into enzyme function and how this varies with body mass. Fractional velocity is highly conserved across species at the HK step,but varied at all other steps examined. These results are discussed in the context of the regulation and evolution of pathways of energy metabolism.

Genetically encoded sensors for metabolites

BACKGROUND

Metabolomics, i.e., the multiparallel analysis of metabolite changes occurring in a cell or an organism, has become feasible with the development of highly efficient mass spectroscopic technologies. Functional genomics as a standard tool helped to identify the function of many of the genes that encode important transporters and metabolic enzymes over the past few years. Advanced expression systems and analysis technologies made it possible to study the biochemical properties of the corresponding proteins in great detail. We begin to understand the biological functions of the gene products by systematic analysis of mutants using systematic PTGS/RNAi, knockout and TILLING approaches. However, one crucial set of data especially relevant in the case of multicellular organisms is lacking: the knowledge of the spatial and temporal profiles of metabolite levels at cellular and subcellular levels.

METHODS

We therefore developed genetically encoded nanosensors for several metabolites to provide a basic set of tools for the determination of cytosolic and subcellular metabolite levels in real time by using fluorescence microscopy.

RESULTS

Prototypes of these sensors were successfully used in vitro and also in vivo, i.e., to measure sugar levels in fungal and animal cells.

CONCLUSIONS

One of the future goals will be to expand the set of sensors to a wider spectrum of substrates by using the natural spectrum of periplasmic binding proteins from bacteria and by computational design of proteins with altered binding pockets in conjunction with mutagenesis. This toolbox can then be applied for four-dimensional imaging of cells and tissues to elucidate the spatial and temporal distribution of metabolites as a discovery tool in functional genomics, as a tool for high-throughput, high-content screening for drugs, to test metabolic models, and to analyze the interplay of cells in a tissue or organ.

Compartmentalization of transport and phosphorylation of glucose in a hepatoma cell line

The first steps of glucose metabolism are carried out by members of the families of GLUTs (glucose transporters) and HKs (hexokinases). Previous experiments using the inhibitor of glucose transport, CB (cytochalasin B), revealed that compartmentalization of GLUTs and HKs is a major factor in the control of glucose uptake in L6 myotubes [Whitesell, Ardehali, Printz, Beechem, Knobel, Piston, Granner, Van Der Meer, Perriott and May (2003) Biochem. J. 370, 47-56]. In the present paper, we evaluate compartmentalization of GLUTs and HKs in a hepatoma cell line, H4IIE, which is characterized by excess GLUT activity, HKI in a particulate and a cytosolic fraction, and insignificant G6Pase (glucose-6-phosphatase) activity. The measured activity of glucose transport exceeded the rate of phosphorylation approx. 30-fold. Treatment with 25 microM CB (K(i) approximately 3 microM in H4IIE cells) paradoxically increased the excess of GLUTs over phosphorylation (GLUTs are inhibited 80%, while phosphorylation is inhibited 98%). The global relationships of the data could be reconciled most simply by a two-compartment model. In this model, phosphorylation of glucose is carried out by a subset of HK molecules supplied by a subset of GLUTs that are more sensitive to CB than the other GLUTs. The agent, DCC (dicyclohexylcarbodi-imide) caused HKI to translocate from the particulate compartment to the cytosolic compartment and potently inhibited glucose phosphorylation. The particulate compartment may represent the mitochondria, to which the more CB-sensitive GLUTs may control the transport of glucose.

Relationship Between Glucose Transport and Metabolism in Isolated Bovine Mammary Epithelial Cells

Glucose transport by isolated bovine mammary epithelial cells involves translocation across the cell membrane into a compartment that exchanges slowly with the bulk cytosol. The significance to glucose metabolism of this compartmentalization was examined by generation, modeling, and analysis of transport and metabolism data. Net uptake of 5 mM 3-O-methyl-d-glucose by isolated bovine mammary epithelial cells was measured at 37 degrees C. Time-course curves were better fitted by a double exponential equation than a single exponential equation and were subjected to compartmental analysis to obtain glucose transport model parameters. Lactose synthesis and glucose oxidation rates and cellular concentrations of intermediary metabolites, glucose-6-phosphate and glucose-1-phosphate, were measured at varied media glucose concentrations. A model that integrates both glucose transport and metabolism under-predicted the rates of lactose synthesis and glucose oxidation by a factor of 3. To account for the observed glucose use rates, glucose must be available for phosphorylation once translocated across the cell membrane (intermediate compartmentalization of translocated glucose does not exclude access to hexokinase). Metabolic control analysis indicated that, at physiological glucose concentrations, phosphorylation by hexokinase exerts 80% of the control of glucose metabolism to lactose and CO(2), and transport exerts the remaining 20%.

Glucose conversion by multiple pathways in brain extract: theoretical and experimental analysis

Experimental and model studies were performed to characterize the flux of glucose metabolism and the sharing of glucose-6-phosphate (Glu6P) by the upper parts of glycolytic and pentosephosphate pathways in the brain extract. A mathematical model based upon the kinetic equations of the individual enzymes was evaluated to fit the experimental data. Glucose is converted to glucose-6-phosphate by hexokinase that controls almost exclusively the glucose metabolism. Experiments showed that this crossroad-metabolite was shared between glycolysis and pentosephosphate pathway in the brain extract in a ratio of 1.5:1. This ratio was favorable to the pentosephosphate pathway by the addition of high excess of exogenous glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, standardly used for the activity assay of hexokinase, but still a significant part (17+/-3%) of the common intermediate was converted into the direction of glycolysis. Stimulation of glucose-6-phosphate formation via moderate (30-50%) increase of hexokinase activity by adding exogenous hexokinase or tubulin resulted in the slight increase of the relative flux into direction of glycolysis. The model correctly described all of these observations. However, when the activity of hexokinase was doubled with exogenous enzyme, significantly less glucose-6-phosphate was converted into direction of glycolysis than predicted. This discrepancy shows that the system did not behave in this case as an ideal one, which could be due to the formation of distinct pools for the intermediate.