Hexosamine biosynthetic pathway and O-GlcNAc-processing enzymes regulate daily rhythms in protein O-GlcNAcylation

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 4173 - 16
• Main Authors: Liu, Xianhui, Blaženović, Ivana, Contreras, Adam J., Pham, Thu M., Tabuloc, Christine A., Li, Ying H., Ji, Jian, Fiehn, Oliver, Chiu, Joanna C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 07.07.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 13/89; 45/88; 631/337/458/1524; 631/443/319/1488; 631/443/319/320; 64/24; 82/1; 82/58; 82/80; Acetylglucosamine - metabolism; Animal models; Animals; Animals, Genetically Modified; Biosynthetic Pathways - genetics; Buffers; Circadian Clocks - genetics; Circadian Rhythm - genetics; Circadian rhythms; Drosophila melanogaster; Drosophila Proteins - genetics; Drosophila Proteins - metabolism; Energy consumption; Energy metabolism; Feeding; Feeding Behavior - physiology; Female; Gene Expression Profiling; Glutamine-Fructose-6-Phosphate Transaminase (Isomerizing) - genetics; Glutamine-Fructose-6-Phosphate Transaminase (Isomerizing) - metabolism; Hexosamines - biosynthesis; Humanities and Social Sciences; Integration; Male; Mathematical models; Metabolism; Misalignment; Models, Animal; multidisciplinary; N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases - genetics; N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases - metabolism; Night; Nutrients; O-GlcNAcylation; Period Circadian Proteins - genetics; Period Circadian Proteins - metabolism; Post-translation; Protein Processing, Post-Translational - physiology; Proteins; Rhythm; Robustness (mathematics); Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Translation
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24301-7

The integration of circadian and metabolic signals is essential for maintaining robust circadian rhythms and ensuring efficient metabolism and energy use. Using Drosophila as an animal model, we show that cellular protein O-GlcNAcylation exhibits robust 24-hour rhythm and represents a key post-translational mechanism that regulates circadian physiology. We observe strong correlation between protein O-GlcNAcylation rhythms and clock-controlled feeding-fasting cycles, suggesting that O-GlcNAcylation rhythms are primarily driven by nutrient input. Interestingly, daily O-GlcNAcylation rhythms are severely dampened when we subject flies to time-restricted feeding at unnatural feeding time. This suggests the presence of clock-regulated buffering mechanisms that prevent excessive O-GlcNAcylation at non-optimal times of the day-night cycle. We show that this buffering mechanism is mediated by the expression and activity of GFAT, OGT, and OGA, which are regulated through integration of circadian and metabolic signals. Finally, we generate a mathematical model to describe the key factors that regulate daily O-GlcNAcylation rhythm. Misalignment between lifestyle and the natural day-night cycle, such as mistimed eating, can negatively impact health. Here the authors show that mistimed feeding alters protein O-GlcNAcylation, a nutrient sensitive post-translational modification.