PUBLICATION
Starvation-resistant cavefish reveal conserved mechanisms of starvation-induced hepatic lipotoxicity
- Authors
- Pozo-Morales, M., Cobham, A.E., Centola, C., McKinney, M.C., Liu, P., Perazzolo, C., Lefort, A., Libert, F., Bai, H., Rohner, N., Singh, S.P.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-240312-7
- Date
- 2024
- Source
- Life science alliance 7(5): (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Perazzolo, Camille, Rohner, Nicolas, Singh, Sumeet Pal
- Keywords
- none
- Datasets
- GEO:GSE252997
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Atrophy
- Fatty Liver*/genetics
- Humans
- Larva
- Starvation*/complications
- Zebrafish
- PubMed
- 38467419 Full text @ Life Sci Alliance
Citation
Pozo-Morales, M., Cobham, A.E., Centola, C., McKinney, M.C., Liu, P., Perazzolo, C., Lefort, A., Libert, F., Bai, H., Rohner, N., Singh, S.P. (2024) Starvation-resistant cavefish reveal conserved mechanisms of starvation-induced hepatic lipotoxicity. Life science alliance. 7(5):.
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 although 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. Furthermore, down-regulation of FATP2 in Drosophila larvae inhibits the development of starvation-induced steatosis, suggesting the evolutionarily 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.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping