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Insulin stimulates translocation of human GLUT4 to the membrane in fat bodies of transgenic Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is an excellent model system for studies of genes controlling development and disease. However, its applicability to physiological systems is less clear because of metabolic differences between insects and mammals. Insulin signaling has been studied in mammals because of relevance to diabetes and other diseases but there are many parallels between mammalian and insect pathways. For example, deletion of Drosophila Insulin-Like Peptides resulted in 'diabetic' flies with elevated circulating sugar levels. Whether this situation reflects failure of sugar uptake into peripheral tissues as seen in mammals is unclear and depends upon whether flies harbor the machinery to mount mammalian-like insulin-dependent sugar uptake responses. Here we asked whether Drosophila fat cells are competent to respond to insulin with mammalian-like regulated trafficking of sugar transporters. Transgenic Drosophila expressing human glucose transporter-4 (GLUT4), the sugar transporter expressed primarily in insulin-responsive tissues, were generated. After expression in fat bodies, GLUT4 intracellular trafficking and localization were monitored by confocal and total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM). We found that fat body cells responded to insulin with increased GLUT4 trafficking and translocation to the plasma membrane. While the amplitude of these responses was relatively weak in animals reared on a standard diet, it was greatly enhanced in animals reared on sugar-restricted diets, suggesting that flies fed standard diets are insulin resistant. Our findings demonstrate that flies are competent to mobilize translocation of sugar transporters to the cell surface in response to insulin. They suggest that Drosophila fat cells are primed for a response to insulin and that these pathways are down-regulated when animals are exposed to constant, high levels of sugar. Finally, these studies are the first to use TIRFM to monitor insulin-signaling pathways in Drosophila, demonstrating the utility of TIRFM of tagged sugar transporters to monitor signaling pathways in insects.

SUBMITTER: Crivat G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3819322 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Insulin stimulates translocation of human GLUT4 to the membrane in fat bodies of transgenic Drosophila melanogaster.

Crivat Georgeta G Lizunov Vladimir A VA Li Caroline R CR Stenkula Karin G KG Zimmerberg Joshua J Cushman Samuel W SW Pick Leslie L

PloS one 20131106 11

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is an excellent model system for studies of genes controlling development and disease. However, its applicability to physiological systems is less clear because of metabolic differences between insects and mammals. Insulin signaling has been studied in mammals because of relevance to diabetes and other diseases but there are many parallels between mammalian and insect pathways. For example, deletion of Drosophila Insulin-Like Peptides resulted in 'diabetic' ...[more]

PMID: 24223128

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Project description:Skeletal muscle glucose transport was examined in transgenic mice overexpressing the glucose transporter GLUT1 using both the isolated incubated-muscle preparation and the hind-limb perfusion technique. In the absence of insulin, 2-deoxy-d-glucose uptake was increased approximately 3-8-fold in isolated fast-twitch muscles of GLUT1 transgenic mice compared with non-transgenic siblings. Similarly, basal glucose transport activity was increased approximately 4-14-fold in perfused fast-twitch muscles of transgenic mice. In non-transgenic mice insulin accelerated glucose transport activity approximately 2-3-fold in isolated muscles and to a much greater extent ( approximately 7-20-fold) in perfused hind-limb preparations. The observed effect of insulin on glucose transport in transgenic muscle was similarly dependent upon the technique used for measurement, as insulin had no effect on isolated fast-twitch muscle from transgenic mice, but significantly enhanced glucose transport in perfused fast-twitch muscle from transgenic mice to approximately 50-75% of the magnitude of the increase observed in non-transgenic mice. Cell-surface glucose transporter content was assessed via 2-N-4-(l-azi-2,2,2-trifluoroethyl)benzoyl-1,3-bis-(d -mannos-4-yloxy)-2-propylamine photolabelling methodology in both isolated and perfused extensor digitorum longus (EDL). Cell-surface GLUT1 was enhanced by as much as 70-fold in both isolated and perfused EDL of transgenic mice. Insulin did not alter cell-surface GLUT1 in either transgenic or non-transgenic mice. Basal levels of cell-surface GLUT4, measured in either isolated or perfused EDL, were similar in transgenic and non-transgenic mice. Interestingly, insulin enhanced cell-surface GLUT4 approximately 2-fold in isolated EDL and approximately 6-fold in perfused EDL of both transgenic and non-transgenic mice. In summary, these results reveal differences between isolated muscle and perfused hind-limb techniques, with the latter method showing a more robust responsiveness to insulin. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that muscle overexpressing GLUT1 has normal insulin-induced GLUT4 translocation and the ability to augment glucose-transport activity above the elevated basal rates.

Project description:AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) enhances glucose transporter GLUT4 regulation. AMPK also suppresses energy-consuming pathways such as cholesterol synthesis. Interestingly, recent in vitro and in vivo data suggest that excess membrane cholesterol impairs GLUT4 regulation. Therefore, this study tested whether a beneficial, GLUT4-regulatory aspect of AMPK stimulation involved cholesterol lowering. Using L6 myotubes stably expressing an exofacial myc-epitope-tagged-GLUT4, AMPK stimulation by 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-β-d-ribonucleoside (AICAR; 45 min, 1 mm) or 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP; 30 min, 200 μm) increased cell surface GLUT4myc labeling by approximately ≈ 25% (P < 0.05). Insulin (20 min, 100 nm) also increased GLUT4myc labeling by about 50% (P < 0.05), which was further enhanced (≈ 25%, P < 0.05) by AICAR or DNP. Consistent with AMPK-mediated suppression of cholesterol synthesis, AICAR and DNP decreased membrane cholesterol by 20-25% (P < 0.05). Whereas AMPK knockdown prevented the enhanced basal and insulin-stimulated GLUT4myc labeling by AICAR and DNP, cholesterol replenishment only blocked the AMPK-associated enhancement in insulin action. Cells cultured in a hyperinsulinemic milieu, resembling conditions in vivo that promote the progression/worsening of insulin resistance, displayed an increase in membrane cholesterol. This occurred concomitantly with a loss of cortical filamentous actin (F-actin) and defects in GLUT4 regulation by insulin. These derangements were prevented by AMPK stimulation. Examination of skeletal muscle from insulin-resistant Zucker rats revealed a similar elevation in membrane cholesterol and loss of F-actin. Lowering cholesterol to control levels restored F-actin structure and insulin sensitivity. In conclusion, these data suggest a novel aspect of GLUT4 regulation by AMPK involves membrane cholesterol lowering. Moreover, this AMPK-mediated process protected against hyperinsulinemia-induced insulin resistance.

Dataset Information

Insulin stimulates translocation of human GLUT4 to the membrane in fat bodies of transgenic Drosophila melanogaster.

Publications

Insulin stimulates translocation of human GLUT4 to the membrane in fat bodies of transgenic Drosophila melanogaster.

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