Graduation Year

2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Biology (Cell Biology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology)

Major Professor

Brant Burkhardt, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Patrick Bradshaw, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Meera Nanjundan, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Sandy Westerheide, Ph.D.

Keywords

FAM3B, ChREBP, Liver, Glucose, Transcription

Abstract

PANcreatic-DERived factor (PANDER, FAM3B) has been shown to regulate glycemic levels via interactions with both pancreatic islets and the liver. Although PANDER is predominantly expressed from the endocrine pancreas, recent work has provided sufficient evidence that the liver may also be an additional tissue source of PANDER production. At physiological levels, PANDER is capable of disrupting insulin signaling and promoting increased hepatic glucose production. As shown in some animal models, strong expression of PANDER, induced by viral delivery within the liver, induces hepatic steatosis. However, no studies to date have explicitly characterized the transcriptional regulation of PANDER from the liver. Therefore, our investigation elucidated the nutrient and hormonal regulation of the hepatic PANDER promoter. Initial RNA-ligated rapid amplification of cDNA ends identified a novel transcription start site (TSS) approximately 26 bp upstream of the PANDER translational start codon not previously revealed in pancreatic β-cell lines. Western evaluation of various murine tissues demonstrated robust expression in the liver and brain. Promoter analysis identified strong tissue-specific activity of the PANDER promoter in both human and murine liver-derived cell lines. The minimal element responsible for maximal promoter activity within hepatic cell lines was located between -293 to -3 of the identified TSS. PANDER promoter activity was inhibited by both insulin and palmitate, whereas glucose strongly increased expression. The minimal element was responsible for maximal glucose-responsive and basal activity. Co-transfection reporter assays, chromatin-immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and site-directed mutagenesis revealed that the carbohydrate-responsive element binding protein (ChREBP) increased PANDER promoter activity and interacted with the PANDER promoter. E-box 3 was shown to be critical for basal and glucose responsive expression. In summary, in-vitro and in-vivo glucose is a potent stimulator of the PANDER promoter within the liver and this response may be facilitated by ChREBP.

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