Foxo1 links insulin signaling to C/EBPalpha and regulates gluconeogenesis during liver development

EMBO J. 2007 Aug 8;26(15):3607-15. doi: 10.1038/sj.emboj.7601784. Epub 2007 Jul 12.

Abstract

C/EBPalpha is a key transcription factor indispensable for the onset of gluconeogenesis in perinatal liver. However, C/EBPalpha was already expressed in fetal liver, suggesting that the expression of C/EBPalpha alone does not account for the dramatic increase of the expression of metabolic genes, and hence an additional factor(s) is expected to function cooperatively with C/EBPalpha in perinatal liver. We show here that expression of Foxo1 was sharply increased in the perinatal liver and augmented C/EBPalpha-dependent transcription. Foxo1 bound C/EBPalpha via its forkhead domain, and Foxo1 bound to the promoter of a gluconeogenic gene, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), in a C/EBPalpha-dependent manner in vivo. Insulin inhibited the expression of PEPCK in a culture of fetal liver cells, and also the C/EBPalpha-dependent transcription enhanced by Foxo1. These results indicate that Foxo1 regulates gluconeogenesis cooperatively with C/EBPalpha, and also links insulin signaling to C/EBPalpha during liver development.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Blotting, Western
  • CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Protein-alpha / genetics
  • CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Protein-alpha / metabolism*
  • DNA Primers
  • Forkhead Box Protein O1
  • Forkhead Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • Forkhead Transcription Factors / physiology*
  • Gluconeogenesis / physiology*
  • Immunoprecipitation
  • Insulin / metabolism*
  • Liver / embryology*
  • Liver / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics
  • Signal Transduction*

Substances

  • CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Protein-alpha
  • DNA Primers
  • Forkhead Box Protein O1
  • Forkhead Transcription Factors
  • Foxo1 protein, mouse
  • Insulin
  • RNA, Messenger