| First Author | Cui D | Year | 2023 |
| Journal | Nat Commun | Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 1 | Pages | 7032 |
| PubMed ID | 37923718 | Mgi Jnum | J:342678 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:7547880 | Doi | 10.1038/s41467-023-42461-6 |
| Citation | Cui D, et al. (2023) Spliceosome component Usp39 contributes to hepatic lipid homeostasis through the regulation of autophagy. Nat Commun 14(1):7032 |
| abstractText | Regulation of alternative splicing (AS) enables a single transcript to yield multiple isoforms that increase transcriptome and proteome diversity. Here, we report that spliceosome component Usp39 plays a role in the regulation of hepatocyte lipid homeostasis. We demonstrate that Usp39 expression is downregulated in hepatic tissues of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) subjects. Hepatocyte-specific Usp39 deletion in mice leads to increased lipid accumulation, spontaneous steatosis and impaired autophagy. Combined analysis of RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP-seq) and bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data reveals that Usp39 regulates AS of several autophagy-related genes. In particular, deletion of Usp39 results in alternative 5' splice site selection of exon 6 in Heat shock transcription factor 1 (Hsf1) and consequently its reduced expression. Importantly, overexpression of Hsf1 could attenuate lipid accumulation caused by Usp39 deficiency. Taken together, our findings indicate that Usp39-mediated AS is required for sustaining autophagy and lipid homeostasis in the liver. |
