Peroxisomes play a central role in lipid metabolism, and their function depends on molecular oxygen. Low oxygen tension or von Hippel-Lindau (Vhl) tumor suppressor loss is known to stabilize hypoxia-inducible factors alpha (Hif-1α and Hif-2α) to mediate adaptive responses, but it remains unknown if peroxisome homeostasis and metabolism are interconnected with Hif-α signaling. By studying liver-specific Vhl, Vhl/Hif1α, and Vhl/Hif2α knockout mice, we demonstrate a regulatory function of Hif-2α signaling on peroxisomes. Hif-2α activation augments peroxisome turnover by selective autophagy (pexophagy) and thereby changes lipid composition reminiscent of peroxisomal disorders. The autophagy receptor Nbr1 localizes to peroxisomes and is likewise degraded by Hif-2α-mediated pexophagy. Furthermore, we demonstrate that peroxisome abundance is reduced in VHL-deficient human clear cell renal cell carcinomas with high HIF-2α levels. These results establish Hif-2α as a negative regulator of peroxisome abundance and metabolism and suggest a mechanism by which cells attune peroxisomal function with oxygen availability.
Maintenance of cell type identity is crucial for health, yet little is known of the regulation that sustains the long-term stability of differentiated phenotypes. To investigate the roles that key transcriptional regulators play in adult differentiated cells, we examined the effects of depletion of the developmental master regulator PTF1A on the specialized phenotype of the adult pancreatic acinar cell in vivo. Transcriptome sequencing and chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing results showed that PTF1A maintains the expression of genes for all cellular processes dedicated to the production of the secretory digestive enzymes, a highly attuned surveillance of unfolded proteins, and a heightened unfolded protein response (UPR). Control by PTF1A is direct on target genes and indirect through a ten-member transcription factor network. Depletion of PTF1A causes an imbalance that overwhelms the UPR, induces cellular injury, and provokes acinar metaplasia. Compromised cellular identity occurs by derepression of characteristic stomach genes, some of which are also associated with pancreatic ductal cells. The loss of acinar cell homeostasis, differentiation, and identity is directly relevant to the pathologies of pancreatitis and pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Loss of cellular identity has long been associated with tissue injury and a first step in cancer progression (for examples, see references 1 and 2). Maintenance of a specific cellular phenotype depends on the continued transcription of cell-type-specific genes, largely through open chromatin architecture (3, 4) maintained by a small group of lineage-restricted DNA-binding transcription factors (TFs) (5, 6) that establish a unique transcriptional regulatory network (7). Many physiologic or pathophysiologic perturbations can affect the differentiated state of a cell quantitatively, but fewer affect the state of differentiation qualitatively. Qualitative changes involve the acquisition of characteristics of another cell type (or types), often defined by one or a few cell-specific markers, in addition to the diminution of the original phenotype. Despite progress with cellular reprogramming (for example, see reference 8), the molecular and genetic mechanisms that maintain cellular identity within the context of adult organs remain incompletely understood. In this report, we show that inactivation of the transcriptional regulatory gene Ptf1a in adult pancreatic acinar cells has pleiotropic effects on gene expression that cause quantitative and multigene qualitative changes of acinar differentiation.The acinar cell of the pancreas has been an informative model of terminal cellular differentiation (9). Common cellular processes are greatly exaggerated in support of the prodigious synthesis, processing, storage, and exocytosis of secretory proteins. The pancreatic acinar cell has the most ribosomes (10) and the highest rate of protein synthesis (11) of any mammalian somatic cell; it synthesizes, stores, and secretes its weight in protein daily. Specialized cellular functions ...
contributed equally to this work STAT factors act as signal transducers of cytokine receptors and transcriptionally activate speci®c target genes. The recently discovered protein PIAS3 binds directly to STAT3 and blocks transcriptional activation. Here, we present experimental evidence implementing the zinc ®nger protein G®-1 as a new regulatory factor in STAT3-mediated signal transduction. The interaction between the two proteins ®rst became evident in a yeast two-hybrid screen but was also seen in coprecipitation experiments from eukaryotic cells. Moreover, we found that both G®-1 and PIAS3 colocalize in a characteristic nuclear dot structure. While PIAS3 exerts a profound inhibitory effect on STAT3-mediated transcription of target promoters, G®-1 can overcome the PIAS3 block and signi®cantly enhances STAT3-mediated transcriptional activation. In primary T cells, G®-1 was able to amplify IL-6-dependent T-cell activation. As G®-1 is a known, dominant proto-oncogene, our ®ndings bear particular importance for the recently described ability of STAT3 to transform cells malignantly and offer an explanation of the oncogenic potential of G®-1 in T lymphocytes.
The homeoprotein PDX1 is expressed throughout pancreatic development and is thought to play important roles at multiple stages. We describe the properties of a tet-off regulatory scheme to manage the expression of Pdx1 in utero. Cessation of Pdx1 expression at increasingly later gestational times blocked pancreatic development at progressive and morphologically distinct stages and provided the opportunity to assess the requirement for Pdx1 at each stage. Embryonic PDX1 is depleted below effective levels within 1 day of the initiation of doxycycline treatment of pregnant mice. We show that PDX1, which is necessary for early pancreatic development, is also required later for the genesis of acinar tissue, the compartment of the pancreas that produces digestive enzymes. Without PDX1, acini do not form; the precursor epithelium continues to grow and branch, creating a truncated ductal tree comprising immature duct-like cells. The bHLH factor PTF1a, a critical regulator of acinar development, is not expressed and cells producing digestive enzymes are rare. This approach should be generally applicable to study the in vivo functions of other developmental regulators with multiple, temporally distinct roles.
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