SummaryActivation of energy expenditure in thermogenic fat is a promising strategy to improve metabolic health, yet the dynamic processes that evoke this response are poorly understood. Here we show that synthesis of the mitochondrial phospholipid cardiolipin is indispensable for stimulating and sustaining thermogenic fat function. Cardiolipin biosynthesis is robustly induced in brown and beige adipose upon cold exposure. Mimicking this response through overexpression of cardiolipin synthase (Crls1) enhances energy consumption in mouse and human adipocytes. Crls1 deficiency in thermogenic adipocytes diminishes inducible mitochondrial uncoupling and elicits a nuclear transcriptional response through endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated retrograde communication. Cardiolipin depletion in brown and beige fat abolishes adipose thermogenesis and glucose uptake, which renders animals insulin resistant. We further identify a rare human CRLS1 variant associated with insulin resistance and show that adipose CRLS1 levels positively correlate with insulin sensitivity. Thus, adipose cardiolipin has a powerful impact on organismal energy homeostasis through thermogenic fat bioenergetics.

The target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1) pathway couples nutrient, energy and hormonal signals with eukaryotic cell growth and division. In yeast, TORC1 coordinates growth with G1–S cell cycle progression, also coined as START, by favouring the expression of G1 cyclins that activate cyclin-dependent protein kinases (CDKs) and by destabilizing the CDK inhibitor Sic1. Following TORC1 downregulation by rapamycin treatment or nutrient limitation, clearance of G1 cyclins and C-terminal phosphorylation of Sic1 by unknown protein kinases are both required for Sic1 to escape ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis prompted by its flagging via the SCFCdc4 (Skp1/Cul1/F-box protein) ubiquitin ligase complex. Here we show that the stabilizing phosphorylation event within the C-terminus of Sic1 requires stimulation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase, Mpk1, and inhibition of the Cdc55 protein phosphatase 2A (PP2ACdc55) by greatwall kinase-activated endosulfines. Thus, Mpk1 and the greatwall kinase pathway serve TORC1 to coordinate the phosphorylation status of Sic1 and consequently START with nutrient availability.

Learning to let go with age: Intracellular controlled release of molecules within senescent cells was achieved using mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) capped with a galacto-oligosaccharide (GOS) to contain the cargo molecules (magenta spheres; see scheme). The GOS is a substrate of the senescent biomarker, senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal), and releases the cargo upon entry into SA-β-gal expressing cells.

Im Alter lernt man loszulassen: Die intrazelluläre kontrollierte Freisetzung von Molekülen in seneszierenden Zellen gelingt mithilfe von mesoporösen Siliciumdioxidnanopartikeln (MSNs) mit einem Galactooligosaccharid(GOS)‐Bezug, der die eingeschlossenen Moleküle (rote Kugeln; siehe Schema) in den MSNs zurückhält. GOS ist ein Substrat des biologischen Markers Seneszenz‐assoziierte β‐Galactosidase (SA‐β‐gal), der den Freisetzungsvorgang beim Eintreten in SA‐β‐gal exprimierende Zellen auslöst.

Eukaryotic cell cycle progression through G1–S is driven by hormonal and growth-related signals that are transmitted by the target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1) pathway. In yeast, inactivation of TORC1 restricts G1–S transition due to the rapid clearance of G1 cyclins (Cln) and the stabilization of the B-type cyclin (Clb) cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor Sic1. The latter mechanism remains mysterious but requires the phosphorylation of Sic1-Thr173 by Mpk1 and inactivation of the Sic1-pThr173-targeting phosphatase (PP2ACdc55) through greatwall kinase-activated endosulfines. Here we show that the Sic1-pThr173 residue serves as a specific docking site for the CDK phospho-acceptor subunit Cks1 that sequesters, together with a C-terminal Clb5-binding motif in Sic1, Clb5-CDK-Cks1 complexes, thereby preventing them from flagging Sic1 for ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis. Interestingly, this functional switch of Sic1 from a target to an inhibitor of cyclin-CDK-Cks1 also operates in proliferating cells and is coordinated by the greatwall kinase, which responds to both Cln-CDK-dependent cell-cycle and TORC1-mediated nutritional cues.