Lee, JaeminSalazar Hernández, Mario AndrésAuen, ThomasMucka, PatrickLee, JustinOzcan, Umut2018-02-262017Lee, Jaemin, Mario Andrés Salazar Hernández, Thomas Auen, Patrick Mucka, Justin Lee, and Umut Ozcan. 2017. “PGC-1α functions as a co-suppressor of XBP1s to regulate glucose metabolism.” Molecular Metabolism 7 (1): 119-131. doi:10.1016/j.molmet.2017.10.010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molmet.2017.10.010.http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:34868823Objective: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) promotes hepatic gluconeogenesis by activating HNF4α and FoxO1. PGC-1α expression in the liver is highly elevated in obese and diabetic conditions, leading to increased hepatic glucose production. We previously showed that the spliced form of X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1s) suppresses FoxO1 activity and hepatic gluconeogenesis. The shared role of PGC-1α and XBP1s in regulating FoxO1 activity and gluconeogenesis led us to investigate the probable interaction between PGC-1α and XBP1s and its role in glucose metabolism. Methods: We investigated the biochemical interaction between PGC-1α and XBP1s and examined the role of their interaction in glucose homeostasis using animal models. Results: We show that PGC-1α interacts with XBP1s, which plays an anti-gluconeogenic role in the liver by suppressing FoxO1 activity. The physical interaction between PGC-1α and XBP1s leads to suppression of XBP1s activity rather than its activation. Upregulating PGC-1α expression in the liver of lean mice lessens XBP1s protein levels, and reducing PGC-1α levels in obese and diabetic mouse liver restores XBP1s protein induction. Conclusions: Our findings reveal a novel function of PGC-1α as a suppressor of XBP1s function, suggesting that hepatic PGC-1α promotes gluconeogenesis through multiple pathways as a co-activator for HNF4α and FoxO1 and also as a suppressor for anti-gluconeogenic transcription factor XBP1s.en-USPGC-1αXBP1sGlucose homeostasisER stressUPRInsulin resistanceJournal Article2018-02-2610.1016/j.molmet.2017.10.010