PUBLICATION

Yap reprograms glutamine metabolism to increase nucleotide biosynthesis and enable liver growth

Authors
Cox, A.G., Hwang, K.L., Brown, K.K., Evason, K.J., Beltz, S., Tsomides, A., O'Connor, K., Galli, G.G., Yimlamai, D., Chhangawala, S., Yuan, M., Lien, E.C., Wucherpfennig, J., Nissim, S., Minami, A., Cohen, D.E., Camargo, F.D., Asara, J.M., Houvras, Y., Stainier, D.Y., Goessling, W.
ID
ZDB-PUB-160720-3
Date
2016
Source
Nature cell biology   18(8): 886-96 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Evason, Kimberley, Goessling, Wolfram, Houvras, Yariv, Nissim, Sahar, Stainier, Didier
Keywords
Cancer, HIPPO signalling, Metabolism, Zebrafish
MeSH Terms
  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing/genetics*
  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/metabolism
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Cell Transformation, Neoplastic/genetics*
  • Cell Transformation, Neoplastic/pathology
  • Glutamine/metabolism
  • Humans
  • Liver/growth & development*
  • Liver Neoplasms/metabolism
  • Liver Neoplasms/pathology
  • Phosphoproteins/genetics*
  • Phosphoproteins/metabolism
  • Trans-Activators/genetics*
  • Zebrafish
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics*
PubMed
27428308 Full text @ Nat. Cell Biol.
Abstract
The Hippo pathway is an important regulator of organ size and tumorigenesis. It is unclear, however, how Hippo signalling provides the cellular building blocks required for rapid growth. Here, we demonstrate that transgenic zebrafish expressing an activated form of the Hippo pathway effector Yap1 (also known as YAP) develop enlarged livers and are prone to liver tumour formation. Transcriptomic and metabolomic profiling identify that Yap1 reprograms glutamine metabolism. Yap1 directly enhances glutamine synthetase (glul) expression and activity, elevating steady-state levels of glutamine and enhancing the relative isotopic enrichment of nitrogen during de novo purine and pyrimidine biosynthesis. Genetic or pharmacological inhibition of GLUL diminishes the isotopic enrichment of nitrogen into nucleotides, suppressing hepatomegaly and the growth of liver cancer cells. Consequently, Yap-driven liver growth is susceptible to nucleotide inhibition. Together, our findings demonstrate that Yap1 integrates the anabolic demands of tissue growth during development and tumorigenesis by reprogramming nitrogen metabolism to stimulate nucleotide biosynthesis.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping