Germline NF1, c-RET, SDH, and VHL mutations cause familial pheochromocytoma. Pheochromocytomas derive from sympathetic neuronal precursor cells. Many of these cells undergo c-Jun-dependent apoptosis during normal development as NGF becomes limiting. NF1 encodes a GAP for the NGF receptor TrkA, and NF1 mutations promote survival after NGF withdrawal. We found that pheochromocytoma-associated c-RET and VHL mutations lead to increased JunB, which blunts neuronal apoptosis after NGF withdrawal. We also found that the prolyl hydroxylase EglN3 acts downstream of c-Jun and is specifically required among the three EglN family members for apoptosis in this setting. Moreover, EglN3 proapoptotic activity requires SDH activity because EglN3 is feedback inhibited by succinate. These studies suggest that failure of developmental apoptosis plays a role in pheochromocytoma pathogenesis.

Hepatic steatosis, the accumulation of lipids in the liver, is widely believed to result in insulin resistance. To test the causal relationship between hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance, we generated mice that overexpress acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 (DGAT2), which catalyzes the final step of triacylglycerol (TG) biosynthesis, in the liver (Liv-DGAT2 mice). Liv-DGAT2 mice developed hepatic steatosis, with increased amounts of TG, diacylglycerol, ceramides, and unsaturated long-chain fatty acyl-CoAs in the liver. However, they had no abnormalities in plasma glucose and insulin levels, glucose and insulin tolerance, rates of glucose infusion and hepatic glucose production during hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp studies, or activities of insulin-stimulated signaling proteins in the liver. DGAT1 overexpression in the liver also failed to induce glucose or insulin intolerance. Our results indicate that DGAT-mediated lipid accumulation in the liver is insufficient to cause insulin resistance and show that hepatic steatosis can occur independently of insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes is partly due to impaired glucose transport in skeletal muscle. Atypical protein kinase C (aPKC) and protein kinase B (PKB), operating downstream of phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase and its lipid product, PI-3,4,5-(PO 4 ) 3 (PIP 3 ), apparently mediate insulin effects on glucose transport. We examined these signaling factors during hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp studies in nondiabetic subjects, subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and type 2 diabetic subjects. In nondiabetic control subjects, insulin provoked twofold increases in muscle aPKC activity. In both IGT and diabetes, aPKC activation was markedly (70 -80%) diminished, most likely reflecting impaired activation of insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-1-dependent PI 3-kinase and decreased ability of PIP 3 to directly activate aPKCs; additionally, muscle PKC-levels were diminished by 40%. PKB activation was diminished in patients with IGT but not significantly in diabetic patients. The insulin sensitizer rosiglitazone improved insulin-stimulated IRS-1-dependent PI 3-kinase and aPKC activation, as well as glucose disposal rates. Bicycle exercise, which activates aPKCs and stimulates glucose transport independently of PI 3-kinase, activated aPKCs comparably to insulin in nondiabetic subjects and better than insulin in diabetic patients. Defective aPKC activation contributes to skeletal muscle insulin resistance in IGT and type 2 diabetes, rosiglitazone improves insulin-stimulated aPKC activation, and exercise directly activates aPKCs in diabetic muscle.

PKMζ is a persistently active PKC isoform proposed to maintain late-LTP and long-term memory. But late-LTP and memory are maintained without PKMζ in PKMζ-null mice. Two hypotheses can account for these findings. First, PKMζ is unimportant for LTP or memory. Second, PKMζ is essential for late-LTP and long-term memory in wild-type mice, and PKMζ-null mice recruit compensatory mechanisms. We find that whereas PKMζ persistently increases in LTP maintenance in wild-type mice, PKCι/λ, a gene-product closely related to PKMζ, persistently increases in LTP maintenance in PKMζ-null mice. Using a pharmacogenetic approach, we find PKMζ-antisense in hippocampus blocks late-LTP and spatial long-term memory in wild-type mice, but not in PKMζ-null mice without the target mRNA. Conversely, a PKCι/λ-antagonist disrupts late-LTP and spatial memory in PKMζ-null mice but not in wild-type mice. Thus, whereas PKMζ is essential for wild-type LTP and long-term memory, persistent PKCι/λ activation compensates for PKMζ loss in PKMζ-null mice.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.14846.001

FoxO transcription factors are important targets of insulin action. To better understand the role of FoxO proteins in the liver, we created transgenic mice expressing constitutively active FoxO1 in the liver using the ␣1-antitrypsin promoter. Fasting glucose levels are increased, and glucose tolerance is impaired in transgenic (TGN) versus wild type (WT) mice. Interestingly, fasting triglyceride and cholesterol levels are reduced despite hyperinsulinemia, and post-prandial changes in triglyceride levels are markedly suppressed in TGN versus WT mice. Activation of pro-lipogenic signaling pathways (atypical protein kinase C and protein kinase B) and the ability to suppress ␤-hydroxybutyrate levels are not impaired in TGN. In contrast, de novo lipogenesis measured with 3 H 2 O is suppressed by ϳ70% in the liver of TGN versus WT mice after refeeding. Gene-array studies reveal that the expression of genes involved in gluconeogenesis, glycerol transport, and amino acid catabolism is increased, whereas genes involved in glucose utilization by glycolysis, the pentose phosphate shunt, lipogenesis, and sterol synthesis pathways are suppressed in TGN versus WT. Studies with adenoviral vectors in isolated hepatocytes confirm that FoxO1 stimulates expression of gluconeogenic genes and suppresses expression of genes involved in glycolysis, the shunt pathway, and lipogenesis, including glucokinase and SREBP-1c. Together, these results indicate that FoxO proteins promote hepatic glucose production through multiple mechanisms and contribute to the regulation of other metabolic pathways important in the adaptation to fasting and feeding in the liver, including glycolysis, the pentose phosphate shunt, and lipogenic and sterol synthetic pathways.FoxO 2 transcription factors are important targets of insulin and growth factor action, and they contribute to the regulation of cell growth, differentiation, and metabolism (1-3). FoxO proteins form a subgroup within the family of Forkhead box (or Fox) transcription factors (4). Early studies indicated that Forkhead proteins interact with insulin response sequences (IRSs) in the promoter of the IGF-binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) and the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) genes (5, 6) and that signaling through phosphatidylinositol 3Ј-kinase and protein kinase B (PKB) mediates IRS-dependent effects of insulin on gene expression (7). Genetic studies of Caenorhabditis elegans revealed that DAF-16, a FoxO transcription factor, is a major target of insulin-like signaling (8, 9). DAF-16 plays an important role in the adaptation to environmental stress, including nutrient restriction, and signaling through phosphatidylinositol 3Ј-kinase and PKB suppresses the function of DAF-16. Subsequent studies revealed that FoxO proteins contain highly conserved PKB phosphorylation sites (corresponding to Thr-24, Ser-256, and Ser-319 in human FoxO1) (10 -12) and that phosphorylation at these sites suppresses transactivation and promotes nuclear exclusion of FoxO proteins through multiple mechanisms (13)...

Exercise increases glucose transport in muscle by activating 5-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), but subsequent events are unclear. Presently, we examined the possibility that AMPK increases glucose transport through atypical protein kinase Cs (aPKCs) by activating proline-rich tyrosine kinase-2 (PYK2), ERK pathway components, and phospholipase D (PLD). In mice, treadmill exercise rapidly activated ERK and aPKCs in mouse vastus lateralis muscles. In rat extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles, (a) AMPK activator, 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-␤-D-riboside (AICAR), activated PYK2, ERK and aPKCs; (b) effects of AICAR on ERK and aPKCs were blocked by tyrosine kinase inhibitor, genistein, and MEK1 inhibitor, PD98059; and (c) effects of AICAR on aPKCs and 2-deoxyglucose (2-DOG) uptake were inhibited by genistein, PD98059, and PLD-inhibitor, 1-butanol. Similarly, in L6 myotubes, (a) AICAR activated PYK2, ERK, PLD, and aPKCs; (b) effects of AICAR on ERK were inhibited by genistein, PD98059, and expression of dominant-negative PYK2; (c) effects of AICAR on PLD were inhibited by MEK1 inhibitor UO126; (d) effects of AICAR on aPKCs were inhibited by genistein, PD98059, 1-butanol, and expression of dominant-negative forms of PYK2, GRB2, SOS, RAS, RAF, and ERK; and (e) effects of AICAR on 2DOG uptake/GLUT4 translocation were inhibited by genistein, PD98059, UO126, 1-butanol, cell-permeable myristoylated PKCpseudosubstrate, and expression of kinase-inactive RAF, ERK, and PKC-. AMPK activator dinitrophenol had effects on ERK, aPKCs, and 2-DOG uptake similar to those of AICAR. Our findings suggest that effects of exercise on glucose transport that are dependent on AMPK are mediated via PYK2, the ERK pathway, PLD, and aPKCs.

We used a Cre-loxP approach to generate mice with varied expression of hepatic Irs1 and Irs2 to establish the contribution of each protein to hepatic nutrient homeostasis. While nutrient-sensitive transcripts were expressed nearly normally in liver lacking Irs2 (LKO2 mice), these transcripts were significantly dysregulated in liver lacking Irs1 (LKO1 mice) or Irs1 and Irs2 together (DKO mice). Similarly, a set of key gluconeogenic and lipogenic genes was regulated nearly normally by feeding in liver retaining a single Irs1 allele without Irs2 (DKO/1 mice) but was poorly regulated in liver retaining one Irs2 allele without Irs1 (DKO/2 mice). DKO/2 mice, but not DKO/1 mice, also showed impaired glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity-though both Irs1 and Irs2 were required to suppress hepatic glucose production during hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp. In contrast, either hepatic Irs1 or Irs2 mediated suppression of HGP by intracerebroventricular insulin infusion. After 12 weeks on a high-fat diet, postprandial tyrosine phosphorylation of Irs1 increased in livers of control and LKO2 mice, whereas tyrosine phosphorylation of Irs2 decreased in control and LKO1 mice. Moreover, LKO1 mice-but not LKO2 mice-that were fed a high-fat diet developed postprandial hyperglycemia. We conclude that Irs1 is the principal mediator of hepatic insulin action that maintains glucose homeostasis.

Obesity, the metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are major global health problems. Insulin resistance is frequently present in these disorders, but the causes and effects of such resistance are unknown. Here, we generated mice with muscle-specific knockout of the major murine atypical PKC (aPKC), PKC-λ, a postulated mediator for insulin-stimulated glucose transport. Glucose transport and translocation of glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) to the plasma membrane were diminished in muscles of both homozygous and heterozygous PKC-λ knockout mice and were accompanied by systemic insulin resistance; impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes; islet β cell hyperplasia; abdominal adiposity; hepatosteatosis; elevated serum triglycerides, FFAs, and LDL-cholesterol; and diminished HDL-cholesterol. In contrast to the defective activation of muscle aPKC, insulin signaling and actions were intact in muscle, liver, and adipocytes. These findings demonstrate the importance of aPKC in insulin-stimulated glucose transport in muscles of intact mice and show that insulin resistance and resultant hyperinsulinemia owing to a specific defect in muscle aPKC is sufficient to induce abdominal obesity and other lipid abnormalities of the metabolic syndrome and T2DM. These findings are particularly relevant because humans who have obesity, impaired glucose tolerance, and T2DM reportedly have defective activation and/or diminished levels of muscle aPKC.