Ciliary ARL13B is essential for body weight regulation in adult mice.

ABSTRACT: Cilia are near ubiquitous cellular appendages critical for cell-to-cell communication and involved in diverse developmental and homeostatic processes. ARL13B is a regulatory GTPase enriched in cilia. We engineered an Arl13b mouse allele, Arl13b ^V358A , which retains ARL13B biochemical activities but renders ARL13B undetectable in cilia. Surprisingly, these mice are hyperphagic and become obese and insulin resistant. In addition to its GTPase function, ARL13B acts as a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for ARL3. To test whether ARL13B's GEF activity is required to regulate body weight, we analyzed the body weight of mice expressing an ARL13B variant lacking ARL3 GEF activity (Arl13b ^R79Q ). We found no difference in body weight

SUBMITTER: Terry TT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10418222 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature