Dataset Information

Comparative genomics and functional study of lipid metabolic genes in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Animal models are indispensable to understand the lipid metabolism and lipid metabolic diseases. Over the last decade, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has become a popular animal model for exploring the regulation of lipid metabolism, obesity, and obese-related diseases. However, the genomic and functional conservation of lipid metabolism from C. elegans to humans remains unknown. In the present study, we systematically analyzed genes involved in lipid metabolism in the C. elegans genome using comparative genomics. RESULTS: We built a database containing 471 lipid genes from the C. elegans genome, and then assigned most of lipid genes into 16 different lipid metabolic pathways that were integrated into a network. Over 70% of C. elegans lipid genes have human orthologs, with 237 of 471 C. elegans lipid genes being conserved in humans, mice, rats, and Drosophila, of which 71 genes are specifically related to human metabolic diseases. Moreover, RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) was used to disrupt the expression of 356 of 471 lipid genes with available RNAi clones. We found that 21 genes strongly affect fat storage, development, reproduction, and other visible phenotypes, 6 of which have not previously been implicated in the regulation of fat metabolism and other phenotypes. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first systematic genomic insight into lipid metabolism in C. elegans, supporting the use of C. elegans as an increasingly prominent model in the study of metabolic diseases.

SUBMITTER: Zhang Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3602672 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Comparative genomics and functional study of lipid metabolic genes in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Zhang Yuru Y Zou Xiaoju X Ding Yihong Y Wang Haizhen H Wu Xiaoyun X Liang Bin B

BMC genomics 20130312

<h4>Background</h4>Animal models are indispensable to understand the lipid metabolism and lipid metabolic diseases. Over the last decade, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has become a popular animal model for exploring the regulation of lipid metabolism, obesity, and obese-related diseases. However, the genomic and functional conservation of lipid metabolism from C. elegans to humans remains unknown. In the present study, we systematically analyzed genes involved in lipid metabolism in the C. ...[more]

PMID: 23496871

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Project description:BackgroundGlucose plays a key role as an energy source in most mammals, but its importance in fish appears to be limited that so far seemed to belong to diabetic humans only. Several laboratories worldwide have made important efforts in order to better understand this strange phenotype observed in fish. However, the mechanism of carbohydrate/glucose metabolism is astonishingly complex. Why basal glycaemia is different between fish and mammals and how carbohydrate metabolism is different amongst organisms is largely uncharted territory. The utilization of comparative systems biology with model vertebrates to explore fish metabolism has become an essential approach to unravelling hidden in vivo mechanisms.ResultsIn this study, we first built a database containing 791, 593, 523, 666 and 698 carbohydrate/glucose metabolic genes from the genomes of Danio rerio, Xenopus tropicalis, Gallus gallus, Mus musculus and Homo sapiens, respectively, and most of these genes in our database are predicted to encode specific enzymes that play roles in defined reactions; over 57% of these genes are related to human type 2 diabetes. Then, we systematically compared these genes and found that more than 70% of the carbohydrate/glucose metabolic genes are conserved in the five species. Interestingly, there are 4 zebrafish-specific genes (si:ch211-167b20.8, CABZ01043017.1, socs9 and eif4e1c) and 1 human-specific gene (CALML6) that may alter glucose utilization in their corresponding species. Interestingly, these 5 genes are all carbohydrate regulation factors, but the enzymes themselves are involved in insulin regulation pathways. Lastly, in order to facilitate the use of our data sets, we constructed a glucose metabolism database platform ( http://101.200.43.1:10000/ ).ConclusionsThis study provides the first systematic genomic insights into carbohydrate/glucose metabolism. After exhaustive analysis, we found that most metabolic genes are conserved in vertebrates. This work may resolve some of the complexities of carbohydrate/glucose metabolic heterogeneity amongst different vertebrates and may provide a reference for the treatment of diabetes and for applications in the aquaculture industry.

Dataset Information

Comparative genomics and functional study of lipid metabolic genes in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Publications

Comparative genomics and functional study of lipid metabolic genes in Caenorhabditis elegans.

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