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Saghatelian, Alan

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Saghatelian

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Alan

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Saghatelian, Alan
Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.a59620e0-0288-4302-b1ad-1f9e686e0867

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Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Proteolysis Controls Endogenous Substance P Levels
    (Public Library of Science, 2013) Mitchell, Andrew J.; Lone, Anna Mari; Tinoco, Arthur D.; Saghatelian, Alan
    Substance P (SP) is a prototypical neuropeptide with roles in pain and inflammation. Numerous mechanisms regulate endogenous SP levels, including the differential expression of SP mRNA and the controlled secretion of SP from neurons. Proteolysis has long been suspected to regulate extracellular SP concentrations but data in support of this hypothesis is scarce. Here, we provide evidence that proteolysis controls SP levels in the spinal cord. Using peptidomics to detect and quantify endogenous SP fragments, we identify the primary SP cleavage site as the C-terminal side of the ninth residue of SP. If blocking this pathway increases SP levels, then proteolysis controls SP concentration. We performed a targeted chemical screen using spinal cord lysates as a proxy for the endogenous metabolic environment and identified GM6001 (galardin, ilomastat) as a potent inhibitor of the SP 1–9-producing activity present in the tissue. Administration of GM6001 to mice results in a greater-than-three-fold increase in the spinal cord levels of SP, which validates the hypothesis that proteolysis controls physiological SP levels.
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    Deletion of Prepl Causes Growth Impairment and Hypotonia in Mice
    (Public Library of Science, 2014) Lone, Anna Mari; Leidl, Mathias; McFedries, Amanda; Horner, James W.; Creemers, John; Saghatelian, Alan
    Genetic studies of rare diseases can identify genes of unknown function that strongly impact human physiology. Prolyl endopeptidase-like (PREPL) is an uncharacterized member of the prolyl peptidase family that was discovered because of its deletion in humans with hypotonia-cystinuria syndrome (HCS). HCS is characterized by a number of physiological changes including diminished growth and neonatal hypotonia or low muscle tone. HCS patients have deletions in other genes as well, making it difficult to tease apart the specific role of PREPL. Here, we develop a PREPL null (PREPL−/−) mouse model to address the physiological role of this enzyme. Deletion of exon 11 from the Prepl gene, which encodes key catalytic amino acids, leads to a loss of PREPL protein as well as lower Prepl mRNA levels. PREPL−/− mice have a pronounced growth phenotype, being significantly shorter and lighter than their wild type (PREPL+/+) counterparts. A righting assay revealed that PREPL−/− pups took significantly longer than PREPL+/+ pups to right themselves when placed on their backs. This deficit indicates that PREPL−/− mice suffer from neonatal hypotonia. According to these results, PREPL regulates growth and neonatal hypotonia in mice, which supports the idea that PREPL causes diminished growth and neonatal hypotonia in humans with HCS. These animals provide a valuable asset in deciphering the underlying biochemical, cellular and physiological pathways that link PREPL to HCS, and this may eventually lead to new insights in the treatment of this disease.
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    Peptidomic discovery of short open reading frame-encoded peptides in human cells
    (2013) Slavoff, Sarah A.; Mitchell, Andrew J.; Schwaid, Adam G.; Cabili, Moran N.; Ma, Jiao; Levin, Joshua Z.; Karger, Amir; Budnik, Bogdan A.; Rinn, John; Saghatelian, Alan
    The amount of the transcriptome that is translated into polypeptides is of fundamental importance. We developed a peptidomic strategy to detect short ORF (sORF)-encoded polypeptides (SEPs) in human cells. We identified 90 SEPs, 86 of which are novel, the largest number of human SEPs ever reported. SEP abundances range from 10-1000 molecules per cell, identical to known proteins. SEPs arise from sORFs in non-coding RNAs as well as multi-cistronic mRNAs, and many SEPs initiate with non-AUG start codons, indicating that non-canonical translation may be more widespread in mammals than previously thought. In addition, coding sORFs are present in a small fraction (8/1866) of long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs). Together, these results provide the strongest evidence to date that the human proteome is more complex than previously appreciated.
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    The Metabolite α-Ketoglutarate Extends Lifespan by Inhibiting ATP Synthase and TOR
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2014) Chin, Randall M.; Fu, Xudong; Pai, Melody Y.; Vergnes, Laurent; Hwang, Heejun; Deng, Gang; Diep, Simon; Lomenick, Brett; Meli, Vijaykumar S.; Monsalve, Gabriela C.; Hu, Eileen; Whelan, Stephen A.; Wang, Jennifer; Jung, Gwanghyun; Solis, Gregory M.; Fazlollahi, Farbod; Kaweeteerawat, Chitrada; Quach, Austin; Nili, Mahta; Krall, Abby S.; Godwin, Hilary A.; Chang, Helena R.; Faull, Kym F.; Guo, Feng; Jiang, Meisheng; Trauger, Sunia; Saghatelian, Alan; Braas, Daniel; Christofk, Heather R.; Clarke, Catherine F.; Teitell, Michael A.; Petrascheck, Michael; Reue, Karen; Jung, Michael E.; Frand, Alison R.; Huang, Jing
    Metabolism and ageing are intimately linked. Compared with ad libitum feeding, dietary restriction consistently extends lifespan and delays age-related diseases in evolutionarily diverse organisms1, 2. Similar conditions of nutrient limitation and genetic or pharmacological perturbations of nutrient or energy metabolism also have longevity benefits3, 4. Recently, several metabolites have been identified that modulate ageing5, 6; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying this are largely undefined. Here we show that α-ketoglutarate (α-KG), a tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediate, extends the lifespan of adult Caenorhabditis elegans. ATP synthase subunit β is identified as a novel binding protein of α-KG using a small-molecule target identification strategy termed drug affinity responsive target stability (DARTS)7. The ATP synthase, also known as complex V of the mitochondrial electron transport chain, is the main cellular energy-generating machinery and is highly conserved throughout evolution8, 9. Although complete loss of mitochondrial function is detrimental, partial suppression of the electron transport chain has been shown to extend C. elegans lifespan10, 11, 12, 13. We show that α-KG inhibits ATP synthase and, similar to ATP synthase knockdown, inhibition by α-KG leads to reduced ATP content, decreased oxygen consumption, and increased autophagy in both C. elegans and mammalian cells. We provide evidence that the lifespan increase by α-KG requires ATP synthase subunit β and is dependent on target of rapamycin (TOR) downstream. Endogenous α-KG levels are increased on starvation and α-KG does not extend the lifespan of dietary-restricted animals, indicating that α-KG is a key metabolite that mediates longevity by dietary restriction. Our analyses uncover new molecular links between a common metabolite, a universal cellular energy generator and dietary restriction in the regulation of organismal lifespan, thus suggesting new strategies for the prevention and treatment of ageing and age-related diseases.
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    Anti-diabetic activity of insulin-degrading enzyme inhibitors mediated by multiple hormones
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2014) Maianti, Juan; McFedries, Amanda; Foda, Zachariah H.; Kleiner, Ralph; Du, Xiu Quan; Leissring, Malcolm A.; Tang, Wei-Jen; Charron, Maureen J.; Seeliger, Markus A.; Saghatelian, Alan; Liu, David
    Despite decades of speculation that inhibiting endogenous insulin degradation might treat type-2 diabetes, and the identification of IDE (insulin-degrading enzyme) as a diabetes susceptibility gene, the relationship between the activity of the zinc metalloprotein IDE and glucose homeostasis remains unclear. Although Ide −/− mice have elevated insulin levels, they exhibit impaired, rather than improved, glucose tolerance that may arise from compensatory insulin signalling dysfunction. IDE inhibitors that are active in vivo are therefore needed to elucidate IDE’s physiological roles and to determine its potential to serve as a target for the treatment ofdiabetes. Here we report the discovery of a physiologically active IDE inhibitor identified from a DNA-templated macrocycle library. An X-ray structure of the macrocycle bound to IDE reveals that it engages a binding pocket away from the catalytic site, which explains its remarkable selectivity. Treatment of lean and obese mice with this inhibitor shows that IDE regulates the abundance and signalling of glucagon and amylin, in addition to that of insulin. Under physiological conditions that augment insulin and amylin levels, such as oral glucose administration, acute IDE inhibition leads to substantially improved glucose tolerance and slower gastric emptying. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of modulating IDE activity as a new therapeutic strategy to treat type-2 diabetes and expand our understanding of the roles of IDE in glucose and hormone regulation.
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    Identification of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Phenazines that Kill Caenorhabditis elegans
    (Public Library of Science, 2013) Cezairliyan, Brent; Vinayavekhin, Nawaporn; Grenfell-Lee, Daniel; Yuen, Grace J.; Saghatelian, Alan; Ausubel, Frederick
    Pathogenic microbes employ a variety of methods to overcome host defenses, including the production and dispersal of molecules that are toxic to their hosts. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a Gram-negative bacterium, is a pathogen of a diverse variety of hosts including mammals and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. In this study, we identify three small molecules in the phenazine class that are produced by P. aeruginosa strain PA14 that are toxic to C. elegans. We demonstrate that 1-hydroxyphenazine, phenazine-1-carboxylic acid, and pyocyanin are capable of killing nematodes in a matter of hours. 1-hydroxyphenazine is toxic over a wide pH range, whereas the toxicities of phenazine-1-carboxylic acid and pyocyanin are pH-dependent at non-overlapping pH ranges. We found that acidification of the growth medium by PA14 activates the toxicity of phenazine-1-carboxylic acid, which is the primary toxic agent towards C. elegans in our assay. Pyocyanin is not toxic under acidic conditions and 1-hydroxyphenazine is produced at concentrations too low to kill C. elegans. These results suggest a role for phenazine-1-carboxylic acid in mammalian pathogenesis because PA14 mutants deficient in phenazine production have been shown to be defective in pathogenesis in mice. More generally, these data demonstrate how diversity within a class of metabolites could affect bacterial toxicity in different environmental niches.
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    Macrophage VLDL Receptor Promotes PAFAH Secretion in Mother’s Milk and Suppresses Systemic Inflammation in Nursing Neonates
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2012) Du, Yang; Yang, Marie; Wei, Wei; Huynh, Hoang Dinh; Herz, Joachim; Saghatelian, Alan; Wan, Yihong
    Mother’s milk is widely accepted as nutritious and protective to the newborn mammals by providing not only macronutrients but also immune-defensive factors. However, the mechanisms accounting for these benefits are not fully understood. Here we show that maternal very-low-density-lipoprotein receptor (VLDLR) deletion in mice causes the production of defective milk containing diminished level of platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase (PAFAH). As a consequence, the nursing neonates suffer from alopecia, anemia and growth retardation owing to elevated levels of pro-inflammatory platelet-activating factors (PAFs). VLDLR deletion significantly impairs the expression of phospholipase A2 group 7 (Pla2g7) in macrophages, which decreases PAFAH secretion. Exogenous oral supplementation of neonates with PAFAH effectively rescues the toxicity. These findings not only reveal a novel role of VLDLR in suppressing inflammation by maintaining macrophage PAFAH secretion, but also identify the maternal VLDLR as a key genetic program that ensures milk quality and protects the newborns.