Background:Tiparp is an aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) repressor, but its role in dioxin toxicity is unknown. Results: Loss of Tiparp increases sensitivity to dioxin toxicity and lethality. Tiparp ADP-ribosylates AHR, which is reversed by the mono-ADP-ribosylase, MacroD1. Conclusion: We identify new roles for Tiparp, MacroD1, and ADP-ribosylation in AHR signaling and dioxin toxicity. Significance: These data reveal the importance of TIPARP in regulating AHR activity in mice.

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Both BPA and BPS can enhance 3T3-L1 adipocyte differentiation in a dose-dependent manner and require PPARγ to induce adipogenesis. Through direct comparison, we show that BPS is a more potent adipogen than BPA.

BackgroundExposure to common environmental substances, such as bisphenol A (BPA), has been associated with a number of negative health outcomes. In vivo, BPA is rapidly converted to its predominant metabolite, BPA-glucuronide (BPA-G), which has long been believed to be biologically inactive because it lacks estrogenic activity. However, the effects of BPA-G on cellular metabolism have not been characterized. In the present study we examined the effect of BPA-G on adipogenesis.MethodsThe effect of BPA-G on the differentiation of human and 3T3L1 murine preadipocytes was evaluated in vitro by quantifying lipid accumulation and the expression of adipogenic markers.ResultsTreatment of 3T3L1 preadipocytes with 10 μM BPA-G induced a significant increase in lipid accumulation, mRNA expression of the adipogenic markers sterol regulatory element binding factor 1 (SREBF1) and lipoprotein lipase (LPL), and protein levels of LPL, aP2, and adipsin. Treatment of primary human preadipocytes with BPA-G also induced adipogenesis as determined by aP2 levels. Co-treatment of cells with the estrogen receptor (ER) antagonist fulvestrant (ICI) significantly inhibited the BPA-G–induced increase in LPL and aP2 levels, whereas treatment with ICI alone had no effect. Moreover, BPA-G did not display any significant estrogenic activity.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this study is the first to report that BPA-G induces adipocyte differentiation and is not simply an inactive metabolite. The fact that BPA-G induced adipogenesis and was inhibited by an ER antagonist yet showed no estrogenic activity suggests that it has no classical ER transcriptional activation function and acts through a pathway that remains to be determined.CitationBoucher JG, Boudreau A, Ahmed S, Atlas E. 2015. In vitro effects of bisphenol A β-D-glucuronide (BPA-G) on adipogenesis in human and murine preadipocytes. Environ Health Perspect 123:1287–1293; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1409143

The environmental contaminant 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) elicits dose-dependent hepatotoxicity that includes fat accumulation, inflammation, and fibrosis that may progress to hepatocellular carcinoma. To further investigate these effects, RNA-Seq data were integrated with computationally identified putative dioxin response elements, and complementary targeted metabolomic and aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) ChIP-Seq data from female C57BL/6 mice gavaged with TCDD every 4 days for 28 days. Data integration using CytoKEGG with manual curation identified dose-dependent alterations in central carbon and amino acid metabolism. More specifically, TCDD increased pyruvate kinase isoform M2 (PKM2) gene and protein expression. PKM2 has lower catalytic activity resulting in decreased glycolytic flux and the accumulation of upstream intermediates that were redirected to the pentose phosphate pathway and serine/folate biosynthesis, 2 important NADPH producing pathways stemming from glycolysis. In addition, the GAC:KGA glutaminase (GLS1) protein isoform ratio was increased, consistent with increases in glutaminolysis which serves an anaplerotic role for the TCA cycle and compensates for the reduced glycolytic flux. Collectively, gene expression, protein, and metabolite changes were indicative of increases in NADPH production in support of cytochrome P450 activity and ROS defenses. This AhR-mediated metabolic reprogramming is similar to the Warburg effect and represents a novel advantageous defense mechanism to increase anti-oxidant capacity in normal differentiated hepatocytes.

Recent studies have shown that activated aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) induced the recruitment of estrogen receptor-alpha (ERalpha) to AHR-regulated genes and that AHR is recruited to ERalpha-regulated genes. However, these findings were limited to a small number of well-characterized AHR- or ERalpha-responsive genes with little knowledge of what was occurring at other genomic regions. In this study, we showed using chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by hybridization to promoter focused microarrays (ChIP-chip) that 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin treatment significantly increased the overlap of genomic regions bound by both AHR and ERalpha. Conventional and sequential ChIPs confirmed the recruitment of AHR and ERalpha to many of the identified regions. Transcription factor binding site analysis revealed an overrepresentation of aryl hydrocarbon receptor response elements in regions bound by both AHR and ERalpha, suggesting that AHR was the important factor determining the recruitment of ERalpha to these regions. RNA interference-mediated knockdown of AHR confirmed its requirement for the recruitment of ERalpha to some, but not all, of the shared regions. Our findings demonstrate not only that dioxin induces the recruitment of ERalpha to AHR target genes but also that AHR is recruited to estrogen-responsive regions in a gene-specific manner, suggesting that AHR utilizes both of these mechanisms to modulate estrogen-dependent signaling.

Here, we report the biochemical characterization of the mono-ADP-ribosyltransferase 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (TIPARP/ARTD14/PARP7), which is known to repress aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR)-dependent transcription. We found that the nuclear localization of TIPARP was dependent on a short N-terminal sequence and its zinc finger domain. Deletion and in vitro ADP-ribosylation studies identified amino acids 400–657 as the minimum catalytically active region, which retained its ability to mono-ADP-ribosylate AHR. However, the ability of TIPARP to ADP-ribosylate and repress AHR in cells was dependent on both its catalytic activity and zinc finger domain. The catalytic activity of TIPARP was resistant to meta-iodobenzylguanidine but sensitive to iodoacetamide and hydroxylamine, implicating cysteines and acidic side chains as ADP-ribosylated target residues. Mass spectrometry identified multiple ADP-ribosylated peptides in TIPARP and AHR. Electron transfer dissociation analysis of the TIPARP peptide 33ITPLKTCFK41 revealed cysteine 39 as a site for mono-ADP-ribosylation. Mutation of cysteine 39 to alanine resulted in a small, but significant, reduction in TIPARP autoribosylation activity, suggesting that additional amino acid residues are modified, but loss of cysteine 39 did not prevent its ability to repress AHR. Our findings characterize the subcellular localization and mono-ADP-ribosyltransferase activity of TIPARP, identify cysteine as a mono-ADP-ribosylated residue targeted by this enzyme, and confirm the TIPARP-dependent mono-ADP-ribosylation of other protein targets, such as AHR.

Human exposure to bisphenol A has been associated with negative health outcomes in humans and its use is now regulated in a number of countries. Bisphenol S (BPS) is increasingly used as a replacement for bisphenol A; however, its effects on cellular metabolism and potential role as an endocrine disruptor have not been fully characterized. In the current study, we evaluated the effect of BPS on adipogenesis in primary human preadipocytes. The effect of BPS on the differentiation of human preadipocytes was determined after treatment with BPS at concentrations ranging from 0.1 nM to 25 μM by quantifying lipid accumulation and mRNA and protein levels of key adipogenic markers. Treatment of preadipocytes with 25 μM BPS induced lipid accumulation and increased the mRNA and protein levels of several adipogenic markers including lipoprotein lipase and adipocyte protein 2 (aP2). Cotreatment of cells with the estrogen receptor antagonist ICI-182,780 significantly inhibited BPS-induced lipid accumulation and affected aP2 but not lipoprotein lipase protein levels. Cotreatment of cells with the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist RU486 had no effect on BPS-induced lipid accumulation or protein levels. Furthermore, reporter gene assays using a synthetic promoter containing peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARG)-response elements and a PPARG-responsive human aP2 promoter region showed that BPS was able to activate PPARG. To our knowledge, this study is the first to show that BPS induces lipid accumulation and differentiation of primary human preadipocytes, and this effect may be mediated through a PPARG pathway.