Insulin resistance is necessary but not sufficient for the development of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes results when pancreatic beta-cells fail to compensate for insulin resistance by increasing insulin production through an expansion of beta-cell mass or increased insulin secretion. Communication between insulin target tissues and beta-cells may initiate this compensatory response. Correlated changes in gene expression between tissues can provide evidence for such intercellular communication. We profiled gene expression in six tissues of mice from an obesity-induced diabetes-resistant and a diabetes-susceptible strain before and after the onset of diabetes. We studied the correlation structure of mRNA abundance and identified 105 co-expression gene modules. We provide an interactive gene network model showing the correlation structure between the expression modules within and among the six tissues. This resource also provides a searchable database of gene expression profiles for all genes in six tissues in lean and obese diabetes-resistant and diabetes-susceptible mice, at 4 and 10 wk of age. A cell cycle regulatory module in islets predicts diabetes susceptibility. The module predicts islet replication; we found a strong correlation between 2H2O incorporation into islet DNA in vivo and the expression pattern of the cell cycle module. This pattern is highly correlated with that of several individual genes in insulin target tissues, including Igf2, which has been shown to promote beta-cell proliferation, suggesting that these genes may provide a link between insulin resistance and beta-cell proliferation.

Summary Histone-modifying enzymes regulate transcription and are sensitive to availability of endogenous small-molecule metabolites, allowing chromatin to respond to changes in environment. The gut microbiota produces a myriad of metabolites that affect host physiology and susceptibility to disease, however the underlying molecular events remain largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that microbial colonization regulates global histone acetylation and methylation in multiple host tissues in a diet-dependent manner: consumption of a “Western-type” diet prevents many of the microbiota-dependent chromatin changes that occur in a polysaccharide rich diet. Finally, we demonstrate that supplementation of germ-free mice with short-chain fatty acids, major products of gut bacterial fermentation, is sufficient to recapitulate chromatin modification states and transcriptional responses of colonization on host epigenetic programming. These findings have profound implications for understanding the complex functional interactions between diet, gut microbiota, and host health.

There remains a need for robust mouse models of diabetic nephropathy (DN) that mimic key features of advanced human DN. The recently developed mouse strain BTBR with the ob/ob leptin-deficiency mutation develops severe type 2 diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, elevated triglycerides, and insulin resistance, but the renal phenotype has not been characterized. Here, we show that these obese, diabetic mice rapidly develop morphologic renal lesions characteristic of both early and advanced human DN. BTBR ob/ob mice developed progressive proteinuria beginning at 4 weeks. Glomerular hypertrophy and accumulation of mesangial matrix, characteristic of early DN, were present by 8 weeks, and glomerular lesions similar to those of advanced human DN were present by 20 weeks. By 22 weeks, we observed an approximately 20% increase in basement membrane thickness and a Ͼ50% increase in mesangial matrix. Diffuse mesangial sclerosis (focally approaching nodular glomerulosclerosis), focal arteriolar hyalinosis, mesangiolysis, and focal mild interstitial fibrosis were present. Loss of podocytes was present early and persisted. In summary, BTBR ob/ob mice develop a constellation of abnormalities that closely resemble advanced human DN more rapidly than most other murine models, making this strain particularly attractive for testing therapeutic interventions. Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the largest single cause of ESRD in the United States, accounting for nearly half of the patients who enter the dialysis patient population each year and currently accounting for 45% of prevalent kidney failure in the United States. 1-4 Although both type 1 and type 2 diabetes lead to DN, the current epidemic of DN is due to type 2 diabetes; however, understanding the mechanisms that produce the constellation of clinical and pathologic alterations that define DN in humans remains very incomplete, in part because clinical DN is a slowly progressive disease, and relevant animal models that produce this constellation of pathologic and clinical abnormalities have important limitations. Mice rendered hyperglycemic by administration of streptozotocin (STZ) or through genetic predisposition such as the db/db mouse can develop some features of DN, most notably glomerular mesangial expansion, but do so only over prolonged periods and do not progress to ESRD. [5][6][7][8][9] Most murine models to date have failed to develop reliably marked mesangial expansion or the

Background An unbiased systems approach was utilized to define energy metabolic events that occur during the pathologic cardiac remodeling en route to heart failure. Methods and Results Combined myocardial transcriptomic and metabolomic profiling were conducted in a well-defined mouse model of heart failure that allows comparative assessment of compensated and decompensated (heart failure) forms of cardiac hypertrophy due to pressure overload. The pressure overload datasets were also compared with the myocardial transcriptome and metabolome for an adaptive (physiological) form of cardiac hypertrophy due to endurance exercise training. Comparative analysis of the datasets led to the following conclusions: 1) expression of most genes involved in mitochondrial energy transduction were not significantly changed in the hypertrophied or failing heart, with the notable exception of a progressive downregulation of transcripts encoding proteins and enzymes involved in myocyte fatty acid transport and oxidation during the development of heart failure; 2) tissue metabolite profiles were more broadly regulated than corresponding metabolic gene regulatory changes, suggesting significant regulation at the post-transcriptional level; 3) metabolomic signatures distinguished pathologic and physiological forms of cardiac hypertrophy and served as robust markers for the onset of heart failure; and 4) the pattern of metabolite derangements in the failing heart suggests “bottlenecks” of carbon substrate flux into the Krebs cycle. Conclusions Mitochondrial energy metabolic derangements that occur during the early development of pressure overload-induced heart failure involve both transcriptional and post-transcriptional events. A subset of the myocardial metabolomic profile robustly distinguished pathologic and physiologic cardiac remodeling.

BTBR mice develop severe diabetes in response to genetically induced obesity due to a failure of the β-cells to compensate for peripheral insulin resistance. In analyzing BTBR islet gene expression patterns, we observed that Pgter3, the gene for the prostaglandin E receptor 3 (EP3), was upregulated with diabetes. The EP3 receptor is stimulated by prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and couples to G-proteins of the Gi subfamily to decrease intracellular cAMP, blunting glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS). Also upregulated were several genes involved in the synthesis of PGE2. We hypothesized that increased signaling through EP3 might be coincident with the development of diabetes and contribute to β-cell dysfunction. We confirmed that the PGE2-to-EP3 signaling pathway was active in islets from confirmed diabetic BTBR mice and human cadaveric donors, with increased EP3 expression, PGE2 production, and function of EP3 agonists and antagonists to modulate cAMP production and GSIS. We also analyzed the impact of EP3 receptor activation on signaling through the glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 receptor. We demonstrated that EP3 agonists antagonize GLP-1 signaling, decreasing the maximal effect that GLP-1 can elicit on cAMP production and GSIS. Taken together, our results identify EP3 as a new therapeutic target for β-cell dysfunction in T2D.

Genotyping microarrays are an important resource for genetic mapping, population genetics, and monitoring of the genetic integrity of laboratory stocks. We have developed the third generation of the Mouse Universal Genotyping Array (MUGA) series, GigaMUGA, a 143,259-probe Illumina Infinium II array for the house mouse (Mus musculus). The bulk of the content of GigaMUGA is optimized for genetic mapping in the Collaborative Cross and Diversity Outbred populations, and for substrain-level identification of laboratory mice. In addition to 141,090 single nucleotide polymorphism probes, GigaMUGA contains 2006 probes for copy number concentrated in structurally polymorphic regions of the mouse genome. The performance of the array is characterized in a set of 500 high-quality reference samples spanning laboratory inbred strains, recombinant inbred lines, outbred stocks, and wild-caught mice. GigaMUGA is highly informative across a wide range of genetically diverse samples, from laboratory substrains to other Mus species. In addition to describing the content and performance of the array, we provide detailed probe-level annotation and recommendations for quality control.

The inability of the ss-cell to meet the demand for insulin brought about by insulin resistance leads to type 2 diabetes. In adults, ss-cell replication is one of the mechanisms thought to cause the expansion of ss-cell mass. Efforts to treat diabetes require knowledge of the pathways that drive facultative ss-cell proliferation in vivo. A robust physiological stimulus of ss-cell expansion is pregnancy and identifying the mechanisms underlying this stimulus may provide therapeutic leads for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The peak in ss-cell proliferation during pregnancy occurs on d 14.5 of gestation in mice. Using advanced genomic approaches, we globally characterize the gene expression signature of pancreatic islets on d 14.5 of gestation during pregnancy. We identify a total of 1907 genes as differentially expressed in the islet during pregnancy. The islet's ability to compensate for relative insulin deficiency during metabolic stress is associated with the induction of both proliferative and survival pathways. A comparison of the genes induced in three different models of islet expansion suggests that diverse mechanisms can be recruited to expand islet mass. The identification of many novel genes involved in islet expansion during pregnancy provides an important resource for diabetes researchers to further investigate how these factors contribute to the maintenance of not only islet mass, but ultimately ss-cell mass.

Rationale Increasing evidence has shown that proper control of mitochondrial dynamics (fusion and fission) is required for high capacity ATP production in heart. The transcriptional coactivators, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 (PGC-1) α and β have been shown to regulate mitochondrial biogenesis in heart at the time of birth. The function of the PGC-1 coactivators in heart after birth is incompletely understood. Objective To assess the role of the PGC-1 coactivators during postnatal cardiac development and in the adult heart in mice. Methods and Results Conditional gene targeting was used in mice to explore the role of the PGC-1 coactivators during postnatal cardiac development and in adult heart. Marked mitochondrial structural derangements were observed in hearts of PGC-1α/β-deficient mice during postnatal growth, including fragmentation and elongation, associated with the development of a lethal cardiomyopathy. The expression of genes involved in mitochondrial fusion [mitofusin 1 (Mfn1), optic atrophy 1 (Opa1)] and fission [dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1), fission protein 1 (Fis1)] was altered in hearts of PGC-1α/β-deficient mice. PGC-lα was shown to directly regulate Mfn1 gene transcription by coactivating the estrogen-related receptor α (ERRα) upon a conserved DNA element. Surprisingly, PGC-1α/β deficiency in the adult heart did not result in evidence of abnormal mitochondrial dynamics or heart failure. However, transcriptional profiling demonstrated that the PGC-1 coactivators are required for high level expression of nuclear- and mitochondrial-encoded genes involved in mitochondrial dynamics and energy transduction in adult heart. Conclusion These results reveal distinct developmental stage-specific programs involved in cardiac mitochondrial dynamics.