(Elsevier, 2014) Chow, Jenny D.Y.; Lawrence, Robert T.; Healy, Marin E.; Dominy, John E.; Liao, Jason A.; Breen, David S.; Byrne, Frances L.; Kenwood, Brandon M.; Lackner, Carolin; Okutsu, Saeko; Mas, Valeria R.; Caldwell, Stephen H.; Tomsig, Jose L.; Cooney, Gregory J.; Puigserver, Pere; Turner, Nigel; James, David E.; Villén, Judit; Hoehn, Kyle L.
Lipid deposition in the liver is associated with metabolic disorders including fatty liver disease, type II diabetes, and hepatocellular cancer. The enzymes acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (ACC1) and ACC2 are powerful regulators of hepatic fat storage; therefore, their inhibition is expected to prevent the development of fatty liver. In this study we generated liver-specific ACC1 and ACC2 double knockout (LDKO) mice to determine how the loss of ACC activity affects liver fat metabolism and whole-body physiology. Characterization of LDKO mice revealed unexpected phenotypes of increased hepatic triglyceride and decreased fat oxidation. We also observed that chronic ACC inhibition led to hyper-acetylation of proteins in the extra-mitochondrial space. In sum, these data reveal the existence of a compensatory pathway that protects hepatic fat stores when ACC enzymes are inhibited. Furthermore, we identified an important role for ACC enzymes in the regulation of protein acetylation in the extra-mitochondrial space.
