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Pozo-Morales M, Cobham AE, Centola C, McKinney MC, Liu P, Perazzolo C, Lefort A, Libert F, Bai H, Rohner N, Singh SP. Starvation resistant cavefish reveal conserved mechanisms of starvation-induced hepatic lipotoxicity. bioRxiv 2024:2024.01.10.574986. [PMID: 38260657 PMCID: PMC10802416 DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.10.574986] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
Starvation causes the accumulation of lipid droplets in the liver, a somewhat counterintuitive phenomenon that is nevertheless conserved from flies to humans. Much like fatty liver resulting from overfeeding, hepatic lipid accumulation (steatosis) during undernourishment can lead to lipotoxicity and atrophy of the liver. Here, we found that while surface populations of Astyanax mexicanus undergo this evolutionarily conserved response to starvation, the starvation-resistant cavefish larvae of the same species do not display an accumulation of lipid droplets upon starvation. Moreover, cavefish are resistant to liver atrophy during starvation, providing a unique system to explore strategies for liver protection. Using comparative transcriptomics between zebrafish, surface fish, and cavefish, we identified the fatty acid transporter slc27a2a/fatp2 to be correlated with the development of fatty liver. Pharmacological inhibition of slc27a2a in zebrafish rescues steatosis and atrophy of the liver upon starvation. Further, down-regulation of FATP2 in drosophila larvae inhibits the development of starvation-induced steatosis, suggesting the evolutionary conserved importance of the gene in regulating fatty liver upon nutrition deprivation. Overall, our study identifies a conserved, druggable target to protect the liver from atrophy during starvation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Macarena Pozo-Morales
- IRIBHM, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Route de Lennik 808, 1070 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Ansa E Cobham
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
| | - Cielo Centola
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
| | | | - Peiduo Liu
- Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Camille Perazzolo
- IRIBHM, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Route de Lennik 808, 1070 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Anne Lefort
- IRIBHM, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Route de Lennik 808, 1070 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Frédérick Libert
- IRIBHM, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Route de Lennik 808, 1070 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Hua Bai
- Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Nicolas Rohner
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
- Department of Cell Biology & Physiology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66103, USA
| | - Sumeet Pal Singh
- IRIBHM, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Route de Lennik 808, 1070 Brussels, Belgium
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