The Circadian Protein Nocturnin Regulates Metabolic Adaptation in Brown Adipose Tissue

Yasemin Onder, I. Laothamatas, Stefano Berto, Katharina Sewart, Gokhul Kilaru, Bogdan Bordieanu, Jeremy J. Stubblefield, Genevieve Konopka, Prashant Mishra, Carla B. Green

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Fine-tuning of transcriptional responses can be critical for long-term outcomes in response to an environmental challenge. The circadian protein Nocturnin belongs to a family of proteins that include exonucleases, endonucleases, and phosphatases and is most closely related to the CCR4 family of deadenylases that regulate the cellular transcriptome via control of poly(A) tail length of RNA transcripts. In this study, we investigate the role of Nocturnin in regulating the transcriptional response and downstream metabolic adaptations during cold exposure in brown adipose tissue. We find that Nocturnin exhibits dual localization within the cytosol and mitochondria, and loss of Nocturnin causes changes in expression of networks of mRNAs involved in mitochondrial function. Furthermore, Nocturnin−/− animals display significantly elevated levels of tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates, indicating that they have distinct metabolic adaptations during a prolonged cold exposure. We conclude that cold-induced stimulation of Nocturnin levels can regulate long-term metabolic adaptations to environmental challenges. Biological Sciences; Cell Biology; Metabolomics; Transcriptomics.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)83-92
Number of pages10
JournaliScience
Volume19
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 27 2019

Keywords

  • Biological Sciences
  • Cell Biology
  • Metabolomics
  • Transcriptomics

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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