You are what you eat: O-linked N-acetylglucosamine in disease, development and epigenetics.

You are what you eat: O-linked N-acetylglucosamine in disease, development and epigenetics. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2015 Jul;18(4):339-45 Authors: Olivier-Van Stichelen S, Hanover JA Abstract PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modification is both responsive to nutrient availability and capable of altering intracellular cellular signalling. We summarize data defining a role for O-GlcNAcylation in metabolic homeostasis and epigenetic regulation of development in the intrauterine environment. RECENT FINDINGS: O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) catalyzes nutrient-driven O-GlcNAc addition and is subject to random X-inactivation. OGT plays key roles in growth factor signalling, stem cell biology, epigenetics and possibly imprinting. The O-GlcNAcase, which removes O-GlcNAc, is subject to tight regulation by higher order chromatin structure. O-GlcNAc cycling plays an important role in the intrauterine environment wherein OGT expression is an important biomarker of placental stress. SUMMARY: Regulation of O-GlcNAc cycling by X-inactivation, epigenetic regulation and nutrient-driven processes makes it an ideal candidate for a nutrient-dependent epigenetic regulator of human disease. In addition, O-GlcNAc cycling influences chromatin modifiers critical to the regulation and timing of normal development including the polycomb repression complex and the ten-eleven translocation proteins mediating DNA m...
Source: Diabetes Metab - Category: Endocrinology Authors: Tags: Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care Source Type: research