Molecular Clock Control of Oxidative Metabolism in Metabolic Disease

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Research over the past decade has uncovered a connection between circadian clocks and metabolic homeostasis. Mice lacking components of the molecular clock develop dramatic metabolic abnormalities, including obesity, disrupted glucoregulation, elevated free fatty acids and metabolic myopathy. Although the molecular mechanisms underlying these phenotypes remain poorly understood, many of these defects point to disruptions in mitochondrial oxidative metabolic pathways, including fatty acid oxidation and respiration. A major clue concerning the cause of mitochondrial dysfunction in circadian mutants stems from the recent discovery that the clock transcription factor loop regulates cellular levels of NAD+, and in turn, controls activity of the sirtuin family of NAD+-dependent deacetylases, key factors in oxidative metabolism. In exciting new results, we also now show that circadian mutant mice exhibit hyperacetylation of several mitochondrial enzymes that are rate-limiting in the urea cycle, ketone production, fatty acid oxidation and ATP synthesis. My research proposal will thus build upon my previous studies of oxygen-dependent control of metabolic transcription factor pathways and specifically test the hypothesis that circadian gene disruption leads to impaired oxidative metabolism due to dysregulation of NAD+ synthesis and activity of mitochondrial-localized sirtuin enzymes. The proposed experiments will exploit experimental genetic, biochemical and cell physiological approaches and will serve as an invaluable vehicle in my development as an independent investigator in metabolism research.