Acquired resistance to the action of insulin to stimulate glucose transport in skeletal muscle is associated with obesity and promotes the development of type 2 diabetes. In skeletal muscle, insulin resistance can result from high levels of circulating fatty acids that disrupt insulin signalling pathways. However, the severity of insulin resistance varies greatly among obese people. Here we postulate that this variability might reflect differences in levels of lipid-droplet proteins that promote the sequestration of fatty acids within adipocytes in the form of triglycerides, thereby lowering exposure of skeletal muscle to the inhibitory effects of fatty acids.

Signal transmission by many cell surface receptors results in the activation of phosphoinositide (PI) 3-kinases that phosphorylate the 3' position of polyphosphoinositides. From a screen for mouse proteins that bind phosphoinositides, the protein GRP1was identified. GRP1 binds phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate [PtdIns(3,4, 5)P3] through a pleckstrin homology (PH) domain and displays a region of high sequence similarity to the yeast Sec7 protein. The PH domain of the closely related protein cytohesin-1, which, through its Sec7 homology domain, regulates integrin beta2 and catalyzes guanine nucleotide exchange of the small guanine nucleotide-binding protein ARF1, was also found to specifically bind PtdIns(3,4,5)P3. GRP1 and cytohesin-1 appear to connect receptor-activated PI 3-kinase signaling pathways with proteins that mediate biological responses such as cell adhesion and membrane trafficking.

Insulin stimulates glucose uptake in muscle and adipocytes by signalling the translocation of GLUT4 glucose transporters from intracellular membranes to the cell surface. The translocation of GLUT4 may involve signalling pathways that are both independent of and dependent on phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase (PI(3)K). This translocation also requires the actin cytoskeleton, and the rapid movement of GLUT4 along linear tracks may be mediated by molecular motors. Here we report that the unconventional myosin Myo1c is present in GLUT4-containing vesicles purified from 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Myo1c, which contains a motor domain, three IQ motifs and a carboxy-terminal cargo domain, is highly expressed in primary and cultured adipocytes. Insulin enhances the localization of Myo1c with GLUT4 in cortical tubulovesicular structures associated with actin filaments, and this colocalization is insensitive to wortmannin. Insulin-stimulated translocation of GLUT4 to the adipocyte plasma membrane is augmented by the expression of wild-type Myo1c and inhibited by a dominant-negative cargo domain of Myo1c. A decrease in the expression of endogenous Myo1c mediated by small interfering RNAs inhibits insulin-stimulated uptake of 2-deoxyglucose. Thus, myosin Myo1c functions in a PI(3)K-independent insulin signalling pathway that controls the movement of intracellular GLUT4-containing vesicles to the plasma membrane.

Arf GTPases regulate membrane trafficking and actin dynamics. Grp1, ARNO, and Cytohesin-1 comprise a family of phosphoinositide-dependent Arf GTPase exchange factors with a Sec7-pleckstrin homology (PH) domain tandem. Here, we report that the exchange activity of the Sec7 domain is potently autoinhibited by conserved elements proximal to the PH domain. The crystal structure of the Grp1 Sec7-PH tandem reveals a pseudosubstrate mechanism of autoinhibition in which the linker region between domains and a C-terminal amphipathic helix physically block the docking sites for the switch regions of Arf GTPases. Mutations within either element result in partial or complete activation. Critical determinants of autoinhibition also contribute to insulin-stimulated plasma membrane recruitment. Autoinhibition can be largely reversed by binding of active Arf6 to Grp1 and by phosphorylation of tandem PKC sites in Cytohesin-1. These observations suggest that Grp1 family GEFs are autoregulated by mechanisms that depend on plasma membrane recruitment for activation.

A classic metabolic concept posits that insulin promotes energy storage and adipose expansion, while catecholamines stimulate release of adipose energy stores by hydrolysis of triglycerides through β-adrenergic receptor (βARs) and protein kinase A (PKA) signaling. Here, we have shown that a key hub in the insulin signaling pathway, activation of p70 ribosomal S6 kinase (S6K1) through mTORC1, is also triggered by PKA activation in both mouse and human adipocytes. Mice with mTORC1 impairment, either through adipocyte-specific deletion of Raptor or pharmacologic rapamycin treatment, were refractory to the well-known βAR-dependent increase of uncoupling protein UCP1 expression and expansion of beige/brite adipocytes (so-called browning) in white adipose tissue (WAT). Mechanistically, PKA directly phosphorylated mTOR and RAPTOR on unique serine residues, an effect that was independent of insulin/AKT signaling. Abrogation of the PKA site within RAPTOR disrupted βAR/mTORC1 activation of S6K1 without affecting mTORC1 activation by insulin. Conversely, a phosphomimetic RAPTOR augmented S6K1 activity. Together, these studies reveal a signaling pathway from βARs and PKA through mTORC1 that is required for adipose browning by catecholamines and provides potential therapeutic strategies to enhance energy expenditure and combat metabolic disease.

Here we identified two novel proteins denoted EH domain protein 2 (EHD2) and EHD2-binding protein 1 (EHBP1) that link clathrin-mediated endocytosis to the actin cytoskeleton. EHD2 contains an N-terminal P-loop and a C-terminal EH domain that interacts with NPF repeats in EHBP1. Disruption of EHD2 or EHBP1 function by small interfering RNA-mediated gene silencing inhibits endocytosis of transferrin into EEA1-positive endosomes as well as GLUT4 endocytosis into cultured adipocytes. EHD2 localizes with cortical actin filaments, whereas EHBP1 contains a putative actin-binding calponin homology domain. High expression of EHD2 or EHBP1 in intact cells mediates extensive actin reorganization. Thus EHD2 appears to connect endocytosis to the actin cytoskeleton through interactions of its N-terminal domain with membranes and its C-terminal EH domain with the novel EHBP1 protein.

The insulin-regulated glucose transporter GLUT4 is a key modulator of whole body glucose homeostasis, and its selective loss in adipose tissue or skeletal muscle causes insulin resistance and diabetes. Here we report an RNA interference-based screen of protein kinases expressed in adipocytes and identify four negative regulators of insulin-responsive glucose transport: the protein kinases PCTAIRE-1 (PCTK1), PFTAIRE-1 (PFTK1), I B kinase ␣, and MAP4K4͞NIK. Integrin-linked protein kinase was identified as a positive regulator of this process. We characterized one of these hits, MAP4K4͞NIK, and found that it is unique among mitogenactivated protein (MAP) kinases expressed in cultured adipocytes in attenuating hexose transport. Remarkably, MAP4K4͞NIK suppresses expression of the adipogenic transcription factors C͞EBP␣, C͞EBP␤, and PPAR␥ and of GLUT4 itself in these cells. RNA interference-mediated depletion of MAP4K4͞NIK early in differentiation enhances adipogenesis and triglyceride deposition, and even in fully differentiated adipocytes its loss up-regulates GLUT4. Conversely, conditions that inhibit adipogenesis such as TNF-␣ treatment or depletion of PPAR␥ markedly up-regulate MAP4K4͞ NIK expression in cultured adipocytes. Furthermore, TNF-␣ signaling to down-regulate GLUT4 is impaired in the absence of MAP4K4͞NIK, indicating that MAP4K4 expression is required for optimal TNF-␣ action. These results reveal a MAP4K4͞NIK-dependent signaling pathway that potently inhibits PPAR␥-responsive gene expression, adipogenesis, and insulin-stimulated glucose transport.GLUT4 function ͉ adipocyte differentiation ͉ protein kinase screening

Phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase is hypothesized to be a signaling element in the acute redistribution of intracellular GLUT4 glucose transporters to the plasma membrane in response to insulin. However, some receptors activate PI 3-kinase without causing GLUT4 translocation, suggesting specific cellular localization may be critical to this PI 3-kinase function. Consistent with this idea, complexes containing PI 3-kinase bound to insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1) in 3T3-L1 adipocytes are associated with intracellular membranes (Heller-Harrison, R., Morin, M. and Czech, M. (1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270, 24442-24450). We report here that in response to insulin, activated complexes of IRS-1⅐PI 3-kinase can be immunoprecipitated with anti-IRS-1 antibody from detergent extracts of immunoadsorbed GLUT4-containing vesicles prepared from 3T3-L1 adipocytes. The targeting of PI 3-kinase to rat adipocyte GLUT4-containing vesicles using vesicles prepared by sucrose velocity gradient ultracentrifugation was also demonstrated. Insulin treatment caused a 2.3-fold increase in immunoreactive p85 protein in these GLUT4-containing vesicles while anti-p85 immunoprecipitates of PI 3-kinase activity in GLUT4-containing vesicle extracts increased to a similar extent. HPLC analysis of the GLUT4 vesicle-associated PI 3-kinase activity showed insulin-mediated increases in PI 3-P, PI 3,4-P 2 , and PI 3,4,5-P 3 when PI, PI 4-P, and PI 4,5-P 2 were used as substrates. Our data demonstrate that insulin directs the association of PI 3-kinase with GLUT4-containing vesicles in 3T3-L1 and rat adipocytes, consistent with the hypothesis that PI 3-kinase is involved in the insulin-regulated movement of GLUT4 to the plasma membrane.