Myofibrillar Protein Abundance and Anabolic Signaling in Myotubes Depleted of E1 Alpha Subunit of Branched-Chain Ketoacid Dehydrogenase Complex
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are essential amino acids that are crucial for skeletal muscle anabolism. Thus, alterations in their levels are associated with muscle atrophic diseases such as cancer, chronic inflammatory and neurological disorders. Others have linked impairments in BCAA metabolism to the development of insulin resistance and its sequelae. Compared to the effects of theses amino acids, much less is known on how impairment in BCAA catabolism affects skeletal muscle. BCAA catabolism starts with the reversible transamination by the mitochondrial enzyme branched-chain aminotransferase 2 (BCAT2). This is followed by the irreversible carboxylation, catalyzed by branched-chain ketoacid dehydrogenase (BCKD) complex. We have shown that BCAT2 and BCKD are essential for the differentiation of skeletal myoblasts into myotubes. Here, we investigated the effect of depletion of BCAT2 or of E1a subunit of BCKD in differentiated myotubes. On day 4 of differentiation, L6 myotubes were transfected with the following siRNA oligonucleotides: scrambled (control), BCAT2, or E1a subunit of BCKD. Forty-eight hours after transfection, compared to control or BCAT2 siRNA group, we observed improved myotube structure in BCKD-depleted cells. BCKD depletion augmented myofibrillar protein levels: myosin heavy chain (MHC, 2-fold) and tropomyosin (4-fold), P < 0.05, n = 3. To further analyze the increase in myofibrillar protein content, we examined signaling through mTORC1 (mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1), a vital complex necessary for skeletal muscle anabolism. BCKD depletion increased the phosphorylation of mTORC1 upstream activator AKT (52%, P < 0.05, n = 3), and of mTORC1 downstream substrates by 25%-86%, consistent with the increase in myofibrillar proteins. Finally, in myotubes treated with the catabolic cytokine (tumor necrosis factor-a), BCKD depletion tended to increase the abundance of tropomyosin (a myofibrillar protein). We showed that depletion of BCKD enhanced myofibrillar protein content and anabolic signaling. If these data are confirmed in vivo, development of dietary and other interventions that target BCKD abundance or functions may promote muscle protein anabolism in individuals with muscle wasting conditions. MHRC, NSERC York U.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".