Project description:Aging of skeletal muscle tissue is characterized by loss of metabolic and contractile competence. It is thought that this phenomenon is driven via extrinsic and intrinsic factors. In order to identify age-dependent changes intrinsic to the muscle cell, microarray transcriptional profiles and measurements of glucose metabolism were performed in primary cultured human myotubes at different time points over seven weeks. Aging in culture tended to reduce myotube glucose metabolism, oxidative and storage capacities, despite elevation of glucose transport. The mitochondrial membrane potential slightly increased, whereas peroxidation of cell membrane lipids declined and membrane integrity was preserved. Transcriptional analysis revealed a fall in genes involved in glucose metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation, while stress defense genes were elevated. Expression of numerous genes coding for muscle contractile proteins and calcium-regulating proteins, was gradually decreased during aging of cultured myotubes. Transcripts of genes involved in cell growth, matrix and motility markedly rose while those involved in cell adhesion dropped. In conclusion, aging myotubes in culture exhibit a loss of glucose metabolic capacity. They are characterized by a shift from a contractile to a growth-survival, matrix-remodeling phenotype. This pattern of changes, linked to intrinsic factors, displays significant similarities with aging of muscle from primates and human subjects.
Project description:Aging of skeletal muscle tissue is characterized by loss of metabolic and contractile competence. It is thought that this phenomenon is driven via extrinsic and intrinsic factors. In order to identify age-dependent changes intrinsic to the muscle cell, microarray transcriptional profiles and measurements of glucose metabolism were performed in primary cultured human myotubes at different time points over seven weeks. Aging in culture tended to reduce myotube glucose metabolism, oxidative and storage capacities, despite elevation of glucose transport. The mitochondrial membrane potential slightly increased, whereas peroxidation of cell membrane lipids declined and membrane integrity was preserved. Transcriptional analysis revealed a fall in genes involved in glucose metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation, while stress defense genes were elevated. Expression of numerous genes coding for muscle contractile proteins and calcium-regulating proteins, was gradually decreased during aging of cultured myotubes. Transcripts of genes involved in cell growth, matrix and motility markedly rose while those involved in cell adhesion dropped. In conclusion, aging myotubes in culture exhibit a loss of glucose metabolic capacity. They are characterized by a shift from a contractile to a growth-survival, matrix-remodeling phenotype. This pattern of changes, linked to intrinsic factors, displays significant similarities with aging of muscle from primates and human subjects. Keywords = aging Keywords = muscle cell biopsy Keywords = myotubes Keywords = glucose Keywords: time-course
Project description:Over 40 % of microRNAs are located in introns of coding genes, and many intronic microRNAs are co-regulated with their host genes. In such cases of co-regulation, the products of host genes and their intronic microRNAs can cooperate to coordinately regulate biologically important pathways. Therefore, we screened intronic microRNAs dysregulated in liver of obese mouse models to identify previously uncharacterized coding host genes that may contribute to the pathogenesis of obesity-associated insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Our approach identified that expression of both Ectodysplasin A (Eda), the causal gene of X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (XLHED; MIM 305100) and its intronic microRNA, miR-676, was strongly increased in liver of obese mouse models. Moreover, hepatic EDA expression is increased in obese human subjects, reduced upon weight loss, and its hepatic expression correlates with systemic insulin resistance. Eda expression in murine liver is controlled via PPARg activation, increases in circulation and promotes JNK activation and inhibitory serine phosphorylation of IRS1 in skeletal muscle. Consistently, bi-directional modulation of hepatic Eda expression in mouse models affects systemic glucose metabolism with alterations of muscle insulin signaling, revealing a novel role of EDA as an obesity-associated hepatokine, which impairs insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle.
Project description:Metabolic stress and changes in nutrient levels modulate many aspects of skeletal muscle function during aging and disease. Growth factors and cytokines secreted by skeletal muscle, known as myokines, are important signaling factors but it is largely unknown whether they modulate muscle growth and differentiation in response to nutrients. Here, we find that changes in glucose levels increase the activity of the glucose-responsive transcription factor MLX, which promotes and is necessary for myoblast fusion. MLX promotes myogenesis not via an adjustment of glucose metabolism but rather by inducing the expression of several myokines, including insulin like-growth factor-2 (IGF2), whereas RNAi and dominant-negative MLX reduce IGF2 expression and block myogenesis. This phenotype is rescued by conditioned media from control muscle cells and by recombinant IGF2, which activates the myogenic kinase Akt. Importantly, MLX null mice display decreased IGF2 induction and diminished muscle regeneration in response to injury, indicating that the myogenic function of MLX is conserved in vivo. Thus, glucose is a signaling molecule that regulates myogenesis and muscle regeneration via MLX/IGF2/Akt signaling.â??The data pproided are histome H4 acetlation data for MLX DN and MLX wt samples; 3 MLX DN H4 Ac Chip seq samples , 3 Inputs, 3 MLX WT H4 Ac samples and 3 WT inputs
Project description:Alternative splicing of the Pkm gene product generates the PKM1 and PKM2 isoforms of pyruvate kinase, and PKM2 expression is closely linked to embryogenesis, tissue regeneration, and cancer. To interrogate the functional requirement for PKM2 during development and tissue homeostasis, we generated germline PKM2 null mice (Pkm2-/-). Unexpectedly, despite being the primary isoform expressed in most wild-type adult tissues, we found that Pkm2-/- mice are viable and fertile. Thus, PKM2 is not required for embryonic or postnatal development. Loss of PKM2 leads to compensatory expression of PKM1 in the tissues that normally express PKM2. Strikingly, PKM2 loss leads to spontaneous development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with high penetrance that is accompanied by progressive changes in systemic metabolism characterized by altered systemic glucose homeostasis, inflammation, and hepatic steatosis. Therefore, in addition to its role in cancer metabolism, PKM2 plays a role in controlling systemic metabolic homeostasis and inflammation, thereby preventing HCC by a non-cell-autonomous mechanism. RNA was isolated from flash frozen ground whole liver tissue of 35 week old PKM2 KO and WT mice. Three independent mice from each condition were used as biological replicates.
Project description:Aging of immune organs, termed as immunosenescence, is suspected to promote systemic inflammation and age-associated disease. The cause of immunosenescence and how it promotes disease, however, has remained unexplored. We report that the Drosophila fat body, a major immune organ, undergoes immunosenescence and mounts strong systemic inflammation that leads to de-regulation of immune deficiency (IMD) signaling in the midgut of old animals. Inflamed old fat bodies secrete circulating peptidoglycan recognition proteins that repress IMD activity in the midgut, thereby promoting gut hyperplasia. Further, fat body immunosenecence is caused by ageassociated lamin-B reduction specifically in fat body cells, which then contributes to heterochromatin loss and de-repression of genes involved in immune responses. As lamin-associated heterochromatin domains are enriched for genes involved in immune response in both Drosophila and mammalian cells, our findings may provide insights into the cause and consequence of immunosenescence during aging. 17 samples from the fat body, the midgut, or the whole gut with different ages or RNAi treatment. 6 of the samples were wildtype young control. For each experiment, we had two or three biological replicates.
Project description:Background: Age-related physiological, biochemical and functional changes in mammalian skeletal muscle have been shown to begin at the mid-point of the lifespan. However, the underlying changes in DNA methylation that occur during this turning point of the muscle aging process have not been clarified. To explore age-related genomic methylation changes in skeletal muscle, we employed young (0.5 years old) and middle-aged (7 years old) pigs as models to survey genome-wide DNA methylation in the longissimus dorsi muscle using a methylated DNA immunoprecipitation sequencing approach. Results: We observed a tendency toward a global loss of DNA methylation in the gene-body region of the skeletal muscle of the middle-aged pigs compared with the young group. We determined the genome-wide gene expression pattern in the longissimus dorsi muscle using microarray analysis and performed a correlation analysis using DMR (differentially methylated region)-mRNA pairs, and we found a significant negative correlation between the changes in methylation levels within gene bodies and gene expression. Furthermore, we identified numerous genes that show age-related methylation changes that are potentially involved in the aging process. The methylation status of these genes was confirmed using bisulfite sequencing PCR. The genes that exhibited a hypomethylated gene body in middle-aged pigs were over-represented in various proteolysis and protein catabolic processes, suggesting an important role for these genes in age-related muscle atrophy. In addition, genes associated with tumorigenesis exhibited aged-related differences in methylation and expression levels, suggesting an increased risk of disease associated with increased age. Conclusions: This study provides a comprehensive analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in aging pig skeletal muscle. Our findings will serve as a valuable resource in aging studies, promoting the pig as a model organism for human aging research and accelerating the development of comparative animal models in aging research. We collected the longissimus dorsi muscles tissue from Jinhua pigs which aged 0.5 year and seven years and study the genome-wide DNA methylation difference between the two age periods.
Project description:Mitochondrial fusion and fission proteins regulate mitochondrial quality control and mitochondrial metabolism. In turn, mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with aging, although its causes are still under debate. Here, we show that aging is characterized by a progressive reduction of Mitofusin 2 (Mfn2) in mouse skeletal muscle and that skeletal muscle Mfn2 ablation in mice generates a gene signature linked to aging. Furthermore, muscle Mfn2-deficient mice show unhealthy aging characterized by altered metabolic homeostasis and sarcopenia. Mfn2 deficiency impairs mitochondrial quality control, which contributes to an exacerbated age-related mitochondrial dysfunction. Surprisingly, aging-induced Mfn2 deficiency triggers a ROS-dependent retrograde signaling pathway through induction of HIF1 transcription factor and BNIP3. This pathway ameliorates mitochondrial autophagy and minimizes mitochondrial damage. Our findings reveal that repression of Mfn2 in skeletal muscle during aging is determinant for the loss of mitochondrial quality, contributing to age-associated metabolic alterations and loss of muscle fitness. Quadriceps muscle from four mice per genotype were used (Control young (6 month-old), Mfn2KO young (6-month-old), control old (22-month-old) and Mfn2KO old (22-month-old)
Project description:In this study, we investigated signaling pathways in Skeletal muscle precursors that are altered with aging and age-related deficits in muscle regenerative potential. We performed fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) to obtain highly purified skeletal muscle satellite cells from young, middle-aged and old mice. Parabiosis experiments indicate that impaired regeneration in aged mice is reversible by exposure to a young circulation, suggesting that young blood contains humoral "rejuvenating" factors that can restore regenerative function. Here, we demonstrate that the circulating protein growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11) is a rejuvenating factor for skeletal muscle. Supplementation of systemic GDF11 levels, which normally decline with age, by heterochronic parabiosis or systemic delivery of recombinant protein, reversed functional impairments and restored genomic integrity in aged muscle stem cells (satellite cells). Increased GDF11 levels in aged mice also improved muscle structural and functional features and increased strength and endurance exercise capacity. These data indicate that GDF11 systemically regulates muscle aging and may be therapeutically useful for reversing age-related skeletal muscle and stem cell dysfunction. We used Affymetrix Mouse Genome array to identify global transcriptional changes associated with age in skeletal muscle precursors.