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Genetic Screen for Cell Fitness in High or Low Oxygen Highlights Mitochondrial and Lipid Metabolism.Cell Apr 2020Human cells are able to sense and adapt to variations in oxygen levels. Historically, much research in this field has focused on hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) signaling...
Human cells are able to sense and adapt to variations in oxygen levels. Historically, much research in this field has focused on hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) signaling and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Here, we perform genome-wide CRISPR growth screens at 21%, 5%, and 1% oxygen to systematically identify gene knockouts with relative fitness defects in high oxygen (213 genes) or low oxygen (109 genes), most without known connection to HIF or ROS. Knockouts of many mitochondrial pathways thought to be essential, including complex I and enzymes in Fe-S biosynthesis, grow relatively well at low oxygen and thus are buffered by hypoxia. In contrast, in certain cell types, knockout of lipid biosynthetic and peroxisomal genes causes fitness defects only in low oxygen. Our resource nominates genetic diseases whose severity may be modulated by oxygen and links hundreds of genes to oxygen homeostasis.
Topics: Cell Hypoxia; Genetic Testing; Genome-Wide Association Study; HEK293 Cells; Humans; Hypoxia; K562 Cells; Lipid Metabolism; Lipids; Mitochondria; Oxygen; Reactive Oxygen Species; Signal Transduction; Transcriptome
PubMed: 32259488
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.03.029 -
The Journal of Clinical Investigation Feb 2019Peroxisomes perform essential functions in lipid metabolism, including fatty acid oxidation and plasmalogen synthesis. Here, we describe a role for peroxisomal lipid...
Peroxisomes perform essential functions in lipid metabolism, including fatty acid oxidation and plasmalogen synthesis. Here, we describe a role for peroxisomal lipid metabolism in mitochondrial dynamics in brown and beige adipocytes. Adipose tissue peroxisomal biogenesis was induced in response to cold exposure through activation of the thermogenic coregulator PRDM16. Adipose-specific knockout of the peroxisomal biogenesis factor Pex16 (Pex16-AKO) in mice impaired cold tolerance, decreased energy expenditure, and increased diet-induced obesity. Pex16 deficiency blocked cold-induced mitochondrial fission, decreased mitochondrial copy number, and caused mitochondrial dysfunction. Adipose-specific knockout of the peroxisomal β-oxidation enzyme acyl-CoA oxidase 1 (Acox1-AKO) was not sufficient to affect adiposity, thermogenesis, or mitochondrial copy number, but knockdown of the plasmalogen synthetic enzyme glyceronephosphate O-acyltransferase (GNPAT) recapitulated the effects of Pex16 inactivation on mitochondrial morphology and function. Plasmalogens are present in mitochondria and decreased with Pex16 inactivation. Dietary supplementation with plasmalogens increased mitochondrial copy number, improved mitochondrial function, and rescued thermogenesis in Pex16-AKO mice. These findings support a surprising interaction between peroxisomes and mitochondria regulating mitochondrial dynamics and thermogenesis.
Topics: Acyl-CoA Oxidase; Adipose Tissue; Animals; COS Cells; Chlorocebus aethiops; Cold Temperature; HEK293 Cells; Humans; Lipids; Mice; Mice, Knockout; Mitochondria; Mitochondrial Dynamics; Peroxins; Peroxisomes; Plasmalogens; Thermogenesis
PubMed: 30511960
DOI: 10.1172/JCI120606 -
Journal of Extracellular Vesicles May 2021Lipid dyshomeostasis is associated with the most common form of dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD). Substantial progress has been made in identifying positron emission...
Lipid dyshomeostasis is associated with the most common form of dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD). Substantial progress has been made in identifying positron emission tomography and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers for AD, but they have limited use as front-line diagnostic tools. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are released by all cells and contain a subset of their parental cell composition, including lipids. EVs are released from the brain into the periphery, providing a potential source of tissue and disease specific lipid biomarkers. However, the EV lipidome of the central nervous system is currently unknown and the potential of brain-derived EVs (BDEVs) to inform on lipid dyshomeostasis in AD remains unclear. The aim of this study was to reveal the lipid composition of BDEVs in human frontal cortex, and to determine whether BDEVs have an altered lipid profile in AD. Using semi-quantitative mass spectrometry, we describe the BDEV lipidome, covering four lipid categories, 17 lipid classes and 692 lipid molecules. BDEVs were enriched in glycerophosphoserine (PS) lipids, a characteristic of small EVs. Here we further report that BDEVs are enriched in ether-containing PS lipids, a finding that further establishes ether lipids as a feature of EVs. BDEVs in the AD frontal cortex offered improved detection of dysregulated lipids in AD over global lipid profiling of this brain region. AD BDEVs had significantly altered glycerophospholipid and sphingolipid levels, specifically increased plasmalogen glycerophosphoethanolamine and decreased polyunsaturated fatty acyl containing lipids, and altered amide-linked acyl chain content in sphingomyelin and ceramide lipids relative to CTL. The most prominent alteration was a two-fold decrease in lipid species containing anti-inflammatory/pro-resolving docosahexaenoic acid. The in-depth lipidome analysis provided in this study highlights the advantage of EVs over more complex tissues for improved detection of dysregulated lipids that may serve as potential biomarkers in the periphery.
Topics: Aged; Alzheimer Disease; Biomarkers; Brain; Central Nervous System; Exosomes; Extracellular Vesicles; Frontal Lobe; Glycerophospholipids; Homeostasis; Humans; Lipid Metabolism; Lipidomics; Lipids; Male; Mass Spectrometry; Sphingolipids; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
PubMed: 34012516
DOI: 10.1002/jev2.12089 -
Cell Death and Differentiation Aug 2021It is well established that ferroptosis is primarily induced by peroxidation of long-chain poly-unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) through nonenzymatic oxidation by free...
It is well established that ferroptosis is primarily induced by peroxidation of long-chain poly-unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) through nonenzymatic oxidation by free radicals or enzymatic stimulation of lipoxygenase. Although there is emerging evidence that long-chain saturated fatty acid (SFA) might be implicated in ferroptosis, it remains unclear whether and how SFA participates in the process of ferroptosis. Using endogenous metabolites and genome-wide CRISPR screening, we have identified FAR1 as a critical factor for SFA-mediated ferroptosis. FAR1 catalyzes the reduction of C16 or C18 saturated fatty acid to fatty alcohol, which is required for the synthesis of alkyl-ether lipids and plasmalogens. Inactivation of FAR1 diminishes SFA-dependent ferroptosis. Furthermore, FAR1-mediated ferroptosis is dependent on peroxisome-driven ether phospholipid biosynthesis. Strikingly, TMEM189, a newly identified gene which introduces vinyl-ether double bond into alkyl-ether lipids to generate plasmalogens abrogates FAR1-alkyl-ether lipids axis induced ferroptosis. Our study reveals a new FAR1-ether lipids-TMEM189 axis dependent ferroptosis pathway and suggests TMEM189 as a promising druggable target for anticancer therapy.
Topics: Ether; Ferroptosis; Humans; Peroxisomes; Phospholipids
PubMed: 33731874
DOI: 10.1038/s41418-021-00769-0 -
Journal of the American Society of... Feb 2022Untargeted plasma metabolomic profiling combined with machine learning (ML) may lead to discovery of metabolic profiles that inform our understanding of pediatric CKD...
BACKGROUND
Untargeted plasma metabolomic profiling combined with machine learning (ML) may lead to discovery of metabolic profiles that inform our understanding of pediatric CKD causes. We sought to identify metabolomic signatures in pediatric CKD based on diagnosis: FSGS, obstructive uropathy (OU), aplasia/dysplasia/hypoplasia (A/D/H), and reflux nephropathy (RN).
METHODS
Untargeted metabolomic quantification (GC-MS/LC-MS, Metabolon) was performed on plasma from 702 Chronic Kidney Disease in Children study participants (: FSGS=63, OU=122, A/D/H=109, and RN=86). Lasso regression was used for feature selection, adjusting for clinical covariates. Four methods were then applied to stratify significance: logistic regression, support vector machine, random forest, and extreme gradient boosting. ML training was performed on 80% total cohort subsets and validated on 20% holdout subsets. Important features were selected based on being significant in at least two of the four modeling approaches. We additionally performed pathway enrichment analysis to identify metabolic subpathways associated with CKD cause.
RESULTS
ML models were evaluated on holdout subsets with receiver-operator and precision-recall area-under-the-curve, F1 score, and Matthews correlation coefficient. ML models outperformed no-skill prediction. Metabolomic profiles were identified based on cause. FSGS was associated with the sphingomyelin-ceramide axis. FSGS was also associated with individual plasmalogen metabolites and the subpathway. OU was associated with gut microbiome-derived histidine metabolites.
CONCLUSION
ML models identified metabolomic signatures based on CKD cause. Using ML techniques in conjunction with traditional biostatistics, we demonstrated that sphingomyelin-ceramide and plasmalogen dysmetabolism are associated with FSGS and that gut microbiome-derived histidine metabolites are associated with OU.
Topics: Adolescent; Child; Child, Preschool; Cohort Studies; Female; Glomerulosclerosis, Focal Segmental; Humans; Infant; Kidney; Logistic Models; Machine Learning; Male; Metabolic Networks and Pathways; Metabolome; Metabolomics; Prospective Studies; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic; Support Vector Machine
PubMed: 35017168
DOI: 10.1681/ASN.2021040538 -
Critical Care (London, England) Jul 2023Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is etiologically and clinically a heterogeneous disease. Its diagnostic characteristics and subtype classification, and the...
BACKGROUND
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is etiologically and clinically a heterogeneous disease. Its diagnostic characteristics and subtype classification, and the application of these features to treatment, have been of considerable interest. Metabolomics is becoming important for identifying ARDS biology and distinguishing its subtypes. This study aimed to identify metabolites that could distinguish sepsis-induced ARDS patients from non-ARDS controls, using a targeted metabolomics approach, and to identify whether sepsis-induced direct and sepsis-induced indirect ARDS are metabolically distinct groups, and if so, confirm their metabolites and associated pathways.
METHODS
This study retrospectively analyzed 54 samples of ARDS patients from a sepsis registry that was prospectively collected from March 2011 to February 2018, along with 30 non-ARDS controls. The cohort was divided into direct and indirect ARDS. Metabolite concentrations of five analyte classes (energy metabolism, free fatty acids, amino acids, phospholipids, sphingolipids) were measured using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry by targeted metabolomics.
RESULTS
In total, 186 metabolites were detected. Among them, 102 metabolites could differentiate sepsis-induced ARDS patients from the non-ARDS controls, while 14 metabolites could discriminate sepsis-induced ARDS subphenotypes. Using partial least-squares discriminant analysis, we showed that sepsis-induced ARDS patients were metabolically distinct from the non-ARDS controls. The main distinguishing metabolites were lysophosphatidylethanolamine (lysoPE) plasmalogen, PE plasmalogens, and phosphatidylcholines (PCs). Sepsis-induced direct and indirect ARDS were also metabolically distinct subgroups, with differences in lysoPCs. Glycerophospholipid and sphingolipid metabolism were the most significant metabolic pathways involved in sepsis-induced ARDS biology and in sepsis-induced direct/indirect ARDS, respectively.
CONCLUSION
Our study demonstrated a marked difference in metabolic patterns between sepsis-induced ARDS patients and non-ARDS controls, and between sepsis-induced direct and indirect ARDS subpheonotypes. The identified metabolites and pathways can provide clues relevant to the diagnosis and treatment of individuals with ARDS.
Topics: Humans; Retrospective Studies; Metabolomics; Chromatography, Liquid; Respiratory Distress Syndrome; Sepsis; Biomarkers
PubMed: 37408042
DOI: 10.1186/s13054-023-04552-0 -
Membranes Oct 2021Plasmalogens, a subclass of glycerophospholipids containing a vinyl-ether bond, are one of the major components of biological membranes. Changes in plasmalogen content... (Review)
Review
Plasmalogens, a subclass of glycerophospholipids containing a vinyl-ether bond, are one of the major components of biological membranes. Changes in plasmalogen content and molecular species have been reported in a variety of pathological conditions ranging from inherited to metabolic and degenerative diseases. Most of these diseases have no treatment, and attempts to develop a therapy have been focusing primarily on protein/nucleic acid molecular targets. However, recent studies have shifted attention to lipids as the basis of a therapeutic strategy. In these pathological conditions, the use of plasmalogen replacement therapy (PRT) has been shown to be a successful way to restore plasmalogen levels as well as to ameliorate the disease phenotype in different clinical settings. Here, the current state of PRT will be reviewed as well as a discussion of future perspectives in PRT. It is proposed that the use of PRT provides a modern and innovative molecular medicine approach aiming at improving health outcomes in different conditions with clinically unmet needs.
PubMed: 34832067
DOI: 10.3390/membranes11110838 -
EBioMedicine Jun 2019Dysbiotic vaginal microbiota have been implicated as contributors to persistent HPV-mediated cervical carcinogenesis and genital inflammation with mechanisms unknown....
BACKGROUND
Dysbiotic vaginal microbiota have been implicated as contributors to persistent HPV-mediated cervical carcinogenesis and genital inflammation with mechanisms unknown. Given that cancer is a metabolic disease, metabolic profiling of the cervicovaginal microenvironment has the potential to reveal the functional interplay between the host and microbes in HPV persistence and progression to cancer.
METHODS
Our study design included HPV-negative/positive controls, women with low-grade and high-grade cervical dysplasia, or cervical cancer (n = 78). Metabolic fingerprints were profiled using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Vaginal microbiota and genital inflammation were analysed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and immunoassays, respectively. We used an integrative bioinformatic pipeline to reveal host and microbe contributions to the metabolome and to comprehensively assess the link between HPV, microbiota, inflammation and cervical disease.
FINDINGS
Metabolic analysis yielded 475 metabolites with known identities. Unique metabolic fingerprints discriminated patient groups from healthy controls. Three-hydroxybutyrate, eicosenoate, and oleate/vaccenate discriminated (with excellent capacity) between cancer patients versus the healthy participants. Sphingolipids, plasmalogens, and linoleate positively correlated with genital inflammation. Non-Lactobacillus dominant communities, particularly in high-grade dysplasia, perturbed amino acid and nucleotide metabolisms. Adenosine and cytosine correlated positively with Lactobacillus abundance and negatively with genital inflammation. Glycochenodeoxycholate and carnitine metabolisms connected non-Lactobacillus dominance to genital inflammation.
INTERPRETATION
Cervicovaginal metabolic profiles were driven by cancer followed by genital inflammation, HPV infection, and vaginal microbiota. This study provides evidence for metabolite-driven complex host-microbe interactions as hallmarks of cervical cancer with future translational potential. FUND: Flinn Foundation (#1974), Banner Foundation Obstetrics/Gynecology, and NIH NCI (P30-CA023074).
Topics: Adult; Amino Acids; Computational Biology; Disease Susceptibility; Female; Humans; Lipid Metabolism; Metabolome; Metabolomics; Microbiota; Papillomavirus Infections; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; ROC Curve; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms; Vagina; Vaginitis; Xenobiotics
PubMed: 31027917
DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.04.028 -
Nature Communications Sep 2023Mitochondrial morphology, which is controlled by mitochondrial fission and fusion, is an important regulator of the thermogenic capacity of brown adipocytes....
Mitochondrial morphology, which is controlled by mitochondrial fission and fusion, is an important regulator of the thermogenic capacity of brown adipocytes. Adipose-specific peroxisome deficiency impairs thermogenesis by inhibiting cold-induced mitochondrial fission due to decreased mitochondrial membrane content of the peroxisome-derived lipids called plasmalogens. Here, we identify TMEM135 as a critical mediator of the peroxisomal regulation of mitochondrial fission and thermogenesis. Adipose-specific TMEM135 knockout in mice blocks mitochondrial fission, impairs thermogenesis, and increases diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance. Conversely, TMEM135 overexpression promotes mitochondrial division, counteracts obesity and insulin resistance, and rescues thermogenesis in peroxisome-deficient mice. Mechanistically, thermogenic stimuli promote association between peroxisomes and mitochondria and plasmalogen-dependent localization of TMEM135 in mitochondria, where it mediates PKA-dependent phosphorylation and mitochondrial retention of the fission factor Drp1. Together, these results reveal a previously unrecognized inter-organelle communication regulating mitochondrial fission and energy homeostasis and identify TMEM135 as a potential target for therapeutic activation of BAT.
Topics: Animals; Mice; Adipocytes, Brown; Adipose Tissue, Brown; Homeostasis; Insulin Resistance; Mice, Knockout; Mitochondrial Dynamics; Obesity; Peroxisomes; Thermogenesis
PubMed: 37773161
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41849-8 -
The Journal of Allergy and Clinical... Mar 2020Food allergy (FA) affects an increasing proportion of children for reasons that remain obscure. Novel disease biomarkers and curative treatment options are strongly...
BACKGROUND
Food allergy (FA) affects an increasing proportion of children for reasons that remain obscure. Novel disease biomarkers and curative treatment options are strongly needed.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to apply untargeted metabolomic profiling to identify pathogenic mechanisms and candidate disease biomarkers in patients with FA.
METHODS
Mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomic profiling was performed on serum samples of children with either FA alone, asthma alone, or both FA and asthma, as well as healthy pediatric control subjects.
RESULTS
In this pilot study patients with FA exhibited a disease-specific metabolomic signature compared with both control subjects and asthmatic patients. In particular, FA was uniquely associated with a marked decrease in sphingolipid levels, as well as levels of a number of other lipid metabolites, in the face of normal frequencies of circulating natural killer T cells. Specific comparison of patients with FA and asthmatic patients revealed differences in the microbiota-sensitive aromatic amino acid and secondary bile acid metabolism. Children with both FA and asthma exhibited a metabolomic profile that aligned with that of FA alone but not asthma. Among children with FA, the history of severe systemic reactions and the presence of multiple FAs were associated with changes in levels of tryptophan metabolites, eicosanoids, plasmalogens, and fatty acids.
CONCLUSIONS
Children with FA have a disease-specific metabolomic profile that is informative of disease mechanisms and severity and that dominates in the presence of asthma. Lower levels of sphingolipids and ceramides and other metabolomic alterations observed in children with FA might reflect the interplay between an altered microbiota and immune cell subsets in the gut.
Topics: Asthma; Biomarkers; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Food Hypersensitivity; Humans; Male; Metabolome; Metabolomics; Pilot Projects
PubMed: 31669435
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2019.10.014