Insulin increases lipid synthesis in liver by activating transcription of the gene encoding sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c). SREBP-1c activates the transcription of all genes necessary for fatty acid synthesis. Insulin induction of SREBP-1c requires LXRα, a nuclear receptor. Transcription of SREBP-1c also requires transcription factor C/EBPβ, but a connection between LXRα and C/EBPβ has not been made. Here we show that LXRα and C/EBPβ form a complex that can be immunoprecipitated from rat liver nuclei. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays showed that the LXRα-C/EBPβ complex binds to the SREBP-1c promoter in a region that contains two binding sites for LXRα and is known to be required for insulin induction. Knockdown of C/EBPβ in fresh rat hepatocytes or mouse livers in vivo reduces the ability of insulin to increase SREBP-1c mRNA. The LXRα-C/EBPβ complex is bound to the SREBP-1c promoter in the absence or presence of insulin, indicating that insulin acts not by increasing the formation of this complex, but rather by activating it.
Keywords: chromatin immunoprecipitation; fasting and refeeding; fatty acid synthesis; rat hepatocytes; transcription.