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Apical growth in plants initiates upon seed germination, whereas radial growth is primed only during early ontogenesis in procambium cells and activated later by the vascular cambium 1 . Although it is not known how radial growth is organized and regulated in plants, this system resembles the developmental competence observed in some animal systems, in which pre-existing patterns of developmental potential are established early on 2 , 3 . Here we show that in Arabidopsis the initiation of radial growth occurs around early protophloem-sieve-element cell files of the root procambial tissue. In this domain, cytokinin signalling promotes the expression of a pair of mobile transcription factors—PHLOEM EARLY DOF 1 (PEAR1) and PHLOEM EARLY DOF 2 (PEAR2)—and their four homologues (DOF6, TMO6, OBP2 and HCA2), which we collectively name PEAR proteins. The PEAR proteins form a short-range concentration gradient that peaks at protophloem sieve elements, and activates gene expression that promotes radial growth. The expression and function of PEAR proteins are antagonized by the HD-ZIP III proteins, well-known polarity transcription factors 4 —the expression of which is concentrated in the more-internal domain of radially non-dividing procambial cells by the function of auxin, and mobile miR165 and miR166 microRNAs. The PEAR proteins locally promote transcription of their inhibitory HD-ZIP III genes, and thereby establish a negative-feedback loop that forms a robust boundary that demarks the zone of cell division. Taken together, our data establish that during root procambial development there exists a network in which a module that links PEAR and HD-ZIP III transcription factors integrates spatial information of the hormonal domains and miRNA gradients to provide adjacent zones of dividing and more-quiescent cells, which forms a foundation for further radial growth. Radial growth in the roots of Arabidopsis , which is mediated by gene expression activated by the mobile PEAR1 and PEAR2 transcription factors, is initiated around protophloem-sieve-element cell files of procambial tissue.

A small clinical trial shows that short-term cold acclimation to moderately-cold temperature improves the glucose homeostasis of individuals with type 2 diabetes, without an appreciable activation of their brown adipose tissue. Cold exposure may be a potential therapy for diabetes by increasing brown adipose tissue (BAT) mass and activity. Here we report that 10 d of cold acclimation (14–15 °C) increased peripheral insulin sensitivity by ∼43% in eight type 2 diabetes subjects. Basal skeletal muscle GLUT4 translocation markedly increased, without effects on insulin signaling or AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation and only a minor increase in BAT glucose uptake.

Aims/hypothesisRecent studies have identified intracellular metabolism as a fundamental determinant of macrophage function. In obesity, proinflammatory macrophages accumulate in adipose tissue and trigger chronic low-grade inflammation, that promotes the development of systemic insulin resistance, yet changes in their intracellular energy metabolism are currently unknown. We therefore set out to study metabolic signatures of adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) in lean and obese conditions.MethodsF4/80-positive ATMs were isolated from obese vs lean mice. High-fat feeding of wild-type mice and myeloid-specific Hif1α−/− mice was used to examine the role of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in ATMs part of obese adipose tissue. In vitro, bone marrow-derived macrophages were co-cultured with adipose tissue explants to examine adipose tissue-induced changes in macrophage phenotypes. Transcriptome analysis, real-time flux measurements, ELISA and several other approaches were used to determine the metabolic signatures and inflammatory status of macrophages. In addition, various metabolic routes were inhibited to determine their relevance for cytokine production.ResultsTranscriptome analysis and extracellular flux measurements of mouse ATMs revealed unique metabolic rewiring in obesity characterised by both increased glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation. Similar metabolic activation of CD14+ cells in obese individuals was associated with diabetes outcome. These changes were not observed in peritoneal macrophages from obese vs lean mice and did not resemble metabolic rewiring in M1-primed macrophages. Instead, metabolic activation of macrophages was dose-dependently induced by a set of adipose tissue-derived factors that could not be reduced to leptin or lactate. Using metabolic inhibitors, we identified various metabolic routes, including fatty acid oxidation, glycolysis and glutaminolysis, that contributed to cytokine release by ATMs in lean adipose tissue. Glycolysis appeared to be the main contributor to the proinflammatory trait of macrophages in obese adipose tissue. HIF-1α, a key regulator of glycolysis, nonetheless appeared to play no critical role in proinflammatory activation of ATMs during early stages of obesity.Conclusions/interpretationOur results reveal unique metabolic activation of ATMs in obesity that promotes inflammatory cytokine release. Further understanding of metabolic programming in ATMs will most likely lead to novel therapeutic targets to curtail inflammatory responses in obesity.Data availabilityMicroarray data of ATMs isolated from obese or lean mice have been submitted to the Gene Expression Omnibus (accession no. GSE84000).

Circadian misalignment, such as in shift work, has been associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes. However, direct effects of circadian misalignment on skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity and the muscle molecular circadian clock have never been studied in humans. Here, we investigated insulin sensitivity and muscle metabolism in 14 healthy young lean men [age 22.4 ± 2.8 years; body mass index (BMI) 22.3 ± 2.1 kg/m2 (mean ± SD)] after a 3-d control protocol and a 3.5-d misalignment protocol induced by a 12-h rapid shift of the behavioral cycle. We show that short-term circadian misalignment results in a significant decrease in muscle insulin sensitivity due to a reduced skeletal muscle nonoxidative glucose disposal (rate of disappearance: 23.7 ± 2.4 vs. 18.4 ± 1.4 mg/kg per minute; control vs. misalignment; P = 0.024). Fasting glucose and free fatty acid levels as well as sleeping metabolic rate were higher during circadian misalignment. Molecular analysis of skeletal muscle biopsies revealed that the molecular circadian clock was not aligned to the inverted behavioral cycle, and transcriptome analysis revealed the human PPAR pathway as a key player in the disturbed energy metabolism upon circadian misalignment. Our findings may provide a mechanism underlying the increased risk of type 2 diabetes among shift workers.

Biomarkers of food intake (BFIs) are a promising tool for limiting misclassification in nutrition research where more subjective dietary assessment instruments are used. They may also be used to assess compliance to dietary guidelines or to a dietary intervention. Biomarkers therefore hold promise for direct and objective measurement of food intake. However, the number of comprehensively validated biomarkers of food intake is limited to just a few. Many new candidate biomarkers emerge from metabolic profiling studies and from advances in food chemistry. Furthermore, candidate food intake biomarkers may also be identified based on extensive literature reviews such as described in the guidelines for Biomarker of Food Intake Reviews (BFIRev). To systematically and critically assess the validity of candidate biomarkers of food intake, it is necessary to outline and streamline an optimal and reproducible validation process. A consensus-based procedure was used to provide and evaluate a set of the most important criteria for systematic validation of BFIs. As a result, a validation procedure was developed including eight criteria, plausibility, dose-response, time-response, robustness, reliability, stability, analytical performance, and inter-laboratory reproducibility. The validation has a dual purpose: (1) to estimate the current level of validation of candidate biomarkers of food intake based on an objective and systematic approach and (2) to pinpoint which additional studies are needed to provide full validation of each candidate biomarker of food intake. This position paper on biomarker of food intake validation outlines the second step of the BFIRev procedure but may also be used as such for validation of new candidate biomarkers identified, e.g., in food metabolomic studies.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated degradation (ERAD) represents a principle quality control mechanism to clear misfolded proteins in the ER; however, its physiological significance and the nature of endogenous ERAD substrates remain largely unexplored. Here we discover that IRE1α, the sensor of the unfolded protein response (UPR), is a bona fide substrate of the Sel1L–Hrd1 ERAD complex. ERAD-mediated IRE1α degradation occurs under basal conditions in a BiP-dependent manner, requires both the intramembrane hydrophilic residues of IRE1α and the lectin protein OS9, and is attenuated by ER stress. ERAD deficiency causes IRE1α protein stabilization, accumulation and mild activation both in vitro and in vivo . Although enterocyte-specific Sel1L-knockout mice ( Sel1L ΔIEC ) are viable and seem normal, they are highly susceptible to experimental colitis and inflammation-associated dysbiosis, in an IRE1α-dependent but CHOP-independent manner. Hence, Sel1L–Hrd1 ERAD serves a distinct, essential function in restraint of IRE1α signalling in vivo by managing its protein turnover. Through a proteomics approach, Qi and colleagues and Long and colleagues identify the sensor of the unfolded protein response IRE1α as an endogenous substrate of the E3 ubiquitin ligase involved in ER-associated degradation, Hrd1.

Aging significantly increases the vulnerability to gastrointestinal (GI) disorders but there are few studies investigating the key factors in aging that affect the GI tract. To address this knowledge gap, we used 10-week- and 19-month-old litter-mate mice to investigate microbiota and host gene expression changes in association with ageing. In aged mice the thickness of the colonic mucus layer was reduced about 6-fold relative to young mice, and more easily penetrable by luminal bacteria. This was linked to increased apoptosis of goblet cells in the upper part of the crypts. The barrier function of the small intestinal mucus was also compromised and the microbiota were frequently observed in contact with the villus epithelium. Antimicrobial Paneth cell factors Ang4 and lysozyme were expressed in significantly reduced amounts. These barrier defects were accompanied by major changes in the faecal microbiota and significantly decreased abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila which is strongly and negatively affected by old age in humans. Transcriptomics revealed age-associated decreases in the expression of immunity and other genes in intestinal mucosal tissue, including decreased T cell-specific transcripts and T cell signalling pathways. The physiological and immunological changes we observed in the intestine in old age, could have major consequences beyond the gut.

A mucus layer covers and protects the intestinal epithelial cells from direct contact with microbes. This mucus layer not only prevents inflammation but also plays an essential role in microbiota colonization, indicating the complex interplay between mucus composition-microbiota and intestinal health. However, it is unknown whether the mucus layer is influenced by age or sex and whether this contributes to reported differences in intestinal diseases in males and females or with ageing. Therefore, in this study we investigated the effect of age on mucus thickness, intestinal microbiota composition and immune composition in relation to sex. The ageing induced shrinkage of the colonic mucus layer was associated with bacterial penetration and direct contact of bacteria with the epithelium in both sexes. Additionally, several genes involved in the biosynthesis of mucus were downregulated in old mice, especially in males, and this was accompanied by a decrease in abundances of various Lactobacillus species and unclassified Clostridiales type IV and XIV and increase in abundance of the potential pathobiont Bacteroides vulgatus. The changes in mucus and microbiota in old mice were associated with enhanced activation of the immune system as illustrated by a higher percentage of effector T cells in old mice. Our data contribute to a better understanding of the interplay between mucus-microbiota-and immune responses and ultimately may lead to more tailored design of strategies to modulate mucus production in targeted groups.

Physiological processes are differentially regulated between men and women. Sex and gut microbiota have each been demonstrated to regulate host metabolism, but it is unclear whether both factors are interdependent. Here, we determined to what extent sex-specific differences in lipid metabolism are modulated via the gut microbiota. While male and female Conv mice showed predominantly differential expression in gene sets related to lipid metabolism, GF mice showed differences in gene sets linked to gut health and inflammatory responses. This suggests that presence of the gut microbiota is important in sex-specific regulation of lipid metabolism. Further, we explored the role of bile acids as mediators in the cross-talk between the microbiome and host lipid metabolism. Females showed higher total and primary serum bile acids levels, independent of presence of microbiota. However, in presence of microbiota we observed higher secondary serum bile acid levels in females compared to males. Analysis of microbiota composition displayed sex-specific differences in Conv mice. Therefore, our data suggests that bile acids possibly play a role in the crosstalk between the microbiome and sex-specific regulation of lipid metabolism. In conclusion, our data shows that presence of the gut microbiota contributes to sex differences in lipid metabolism.

Consumption of a high-energy Western diet triggers mild adaptive β cell proliferation to compensate for peripheral insulin resistance; however, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. In the present study we show that the toll-like receptors TLR2 and TLR4 inhibited the diet-induced replication of β cells in mice and humans. The combined, but not the individual, loss of TLR2 and TLR4 increased the replication of β cells, but not that of α cells, leading to enlarged β cell area and hyperinsulinemia in diet-induced obesity. Loss of TLR2 and TLR4 increased the nuclear abundance of the cell cycle regulators cyclin D2 and Cdk4 in a manner dependent on the signaling mediator Erk. These data reveal a regulatory mechanism controlling the proliferation of β cells in diet-induced obesity and suggest that selective targeting of the TLR2/TLR4 pathways may reverse β cell failure in patients with diabetes. High-energy diet triggers mild β cell proliferation to compensate for peripheral insulin resistance. Qi and colleagues show that TLR2 and TLR4 inhibit the diet-induced replication of β cells in mice and humans.