The nucleus as a dynamic metabolic compartment linking nutrients to chromatin modification
Intracellular metabolites act as powerful signalling cues to adjust cell behaviour to the nutrient environment. A variety of metabolites operate in the nucleus as substrates, co-factors, or inhibitors of chromatin-modifying enzymes and have emerged as key determinants of gene regulation. Given that cellular metabolism is highly compartmentalised, our understanding of pathways connecting nutrients to nuclear metabolites has been limited since standard metabolite analyses use whole cells.
I will discuss our recent work in which we developed rigorous approaches for subcellular metabolite analyses by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, with a focus on acyl-Coenzyme A thioesters (acyl-CoAs). We show that the nucleus operates as a distinct metabolic compartment and examine the dynamic relationship between nutrient availability, acyl-CoA metabolism and histone lysine modification. This work opens new avenues to investigate the metabolic-epigenetic interface and how diet affects the epigenome.
Date: 17 November 2023, 13:00
Venue: Sherrington Library, off Parks Road OX1 3PT
Speaker: Dr Sophie Trefely (Babraham Institute)
Organising department: Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG)
Organisers: Dr Mootaz Salman (DPAG, University of Oxford), Associate Professor Samira Lakhal-Littleton (DPAG, University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: communications@dpag.ox.ac.uk
Host: Professor Pawel Swietach (Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG), University of Oxford)
Part of: DPAG Head of Department Seminar Series
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Peter Belk