Title
In vivo isotope tracing reveals the versatility of glucose as a brown adipose tissue substrate
UMMS Affiliation
Program in Molecular Medicine; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Publication Date
2021-07-27
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Biochemical Phenomena, Metabolism, and Nutrition | Cellular and Molecular Physiology | Lipids | Molecular Biology
Abstract
Active brown adipose tissue (BAT) consumes copious amounts of glucose, yet how glucose metabolism supports thermogenesis is unclear. By combining transcriptomics, metabolomics, and stable isotope tracing in vivo, we systematically analyze BAT glucose utilization in mice during acute and chronic cold exposure. Metabolite profiling reveals extensive temperature-dependent changes in the BAT metabolome and transcriptome upon cold adaptation, discovering unexpected metabolite markers of thermogenesis, including increased N-acetyl-amino acid production. Time-course stable isotope tracing further reveals rapid incorporation of glucose carbons into glycolysis and TCA cycle, as well as several auxiliary pathways, including NADPH, nucleotide, and phospholipid synthesis pathways. Gene expression differences inconsistently predict glucose fluxes, indicating that posttranscriptional mechanisms also govern glucose utilization. Surprisingly, BAT swiftly generates fatty acids and acyl-carnitines from glucose, suggesting that lipids are rapidly synthesized and immediately oxidized. These data reveal versatility in BAT glucose utilization, highlighting the value of an integrative-omics approach to understanding organ metabolism.
Keywords
BAT, brown adipocyte, brown adipose tissue, brown fat, glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism, metabolomics, stable isotope tracing, temperature acclimation, thermogenesis
Rights and Permissions
Copyright 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
DOI of Published Version
10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109459
Source
Jung SM, Doxsey WG, Le J, Haley JA, Mazuecos L, Luciano AK, Li H, Jang C, Guertin DA. In vivo isotope tracing reveals the versatility of glucose as a brown adipose tissue substrate. Cell Rep. 2021 Jul 27;36(4):109459. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109459. PMID: 34320357; PMCID: PMC8369932. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Cell reports
Related Resources
PubMed ID
34320357
Repository Citation
Jung SM, Doxsey WG, Le J, Haley JA, Mazuecos L, Luciano AK, Li H, Jang C, Guertin DA. (2021). In vivo isotope tracing reveals the versatility of glucose as a brown adipose tissue substrate. Open Access Publications by UMass Chan Authors. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109459. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/oapubs/4826
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Included in
Biochemical Phenomena, Metabolism, and Nutrition Commons, Cellular and Molecular Physiology Commons, Lipids Commons, Molecular Biology Commons