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Srag Regulates Autophagy via Integrating into a Preexisting Autophagy Pathway in Testis.

ABSTRACT: Spermatogenesis is an essential process for producing sperm cells. Reproductive strategy is successfully evolved for a species to adapt to a certain ecological system. However, roles of newly evolved genes in testis autophagy remain unclear. In this study, we found that a newly evolved gene srag (Sox9-regulated autophagy gene) plays an important role in promoting autophagy in testis in the lineage of the teleost Monopterus albus. The gene integrated into an interaction network through a two-way strategy of evolution, via Sox9-binding in its promoter and interaction with Becn1 in the coding region. Its promoter region evolved a cis element for binding of Sox9, a transcription factor for male sex determination. Both in vitro and in vivo analyses demonstrated that transcription factor Sox9 could bind to and activate the srag promoter. Its coding region acquired ability to interact with key autophagy initiation factor Becn1 via the conserved C-terminal, indicating that srag integrated into preexisting autophagy network. Moreover, we determined that Srag enhanced autophagy by interacting with Becn1. Notably, srag transgenic zebrafish revealed that Srag exerted the same function by enhancing autophagy through the Srag-Becn1 pathway. Thus, the new gene srag regulated autophagy in testis by integrated into preexisting autophagy network.

SUBMITTER: Cheng Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7782868 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Appropriate glucagon secretion from pancreatic alpha cells in response to hypoglycemia is an important component of maintaining glucose homeostasis. Dysregulated glucagon secretion leads to the delayed recovery from a hypoglycemic attack in type 1 diabetes patients which can be lethal. Although elucidating the precise mechanism of glucagon secretion in hypoglycemia is warranted, the underlying mechanism remains poorly understood.The present study provides evidence of the role of autophagy in glucagon secretion in hypoglycemia by demonstrating that autophagy regulates adrenergic stimulation of glucagon secretion downstream of beta2 adrenergic receptor. First, from the analyses of T1D human islets and the published database of scRNA-seq of T1D human alpha cells, we described autophagy pathways altered in T1D alpha cells. Second, we generated alpha cell-specific Atg7KO mice (alphaAtg7KO) and clarified that the lack of autophagy in alpha cells impairs the reactive glucagon secretion in acute hypoglycemia. Third, to interrogate the molecular mechanism of autophagy-mediated glucagon regulation, we analyzed top genes downregulated inT1D and T2D alpha cells and found the expression of beta2 adrenergic receptor showed significant down-regulation in T1D alpha cells. We confirmed the decreased expression of beta2 adrenergic receptor in alpha cells of the T1D pancreas section, the islets of alphaAtg7KO mice, and a murine alpha cell line with stable knockdown of Atg7. Furthermore, in vivo and ex vivo studies of alphaAtg7KO mice exhibited that lack of autophagy led to the loss of stimulatory effect of beta2-adrenergic signaling on glucagon secretion. Finally, we established the Atg7 knockdown model in sorted human alpha cells and confirmed the effect of autophagy on the expression of the beta2 adrenergic receptor. Together, our study provides novel insights into the regulatory role of autophagy in glucagon secretion in response to hypoglycemia and provides therapeutic options to achieve stable glycemic control in T1D patients.

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Srag Regulates Autophagy via Integrating into a Preexisting Autophagy Pathway in Testis.

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