Week 2 Flashcards
How can the environment impact phenotype?
Environmental factors such as diet, temperature, oxygen levels, humidity, light cycles, and the presence of mutagens can all impact which of an animal’s genes are expressed, which ultimately affects the animal’s phenotype.
What is metabolic signalling?
The decision-making process of cells.
Why is metabolic signalling important?
These signaling pathways maintain homeostasis by allowing sufficient nutrient uptake to maintain metabolic demand.
How is metabolic homeostasis determined
By the cellular energy state, and this is set and maintained through near equilibrium reactions that regulate the ATP producing pathways, represented by glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation.
What is one of the most fundamental biological processes?
Metabolite sensing
How did multilayer mechanisms develop during evolution?
To sense fluctuations in a wide spectrum of metabolites, including nutrients, to coordinate cellular metabolism and biological networks.
What are the best-understood metabolite-sensing and signalling?
AMPK and mTOR signaling
What is the relationship between GPCRs and adipocytes?
Adhesion GPCR are significantly involved in qualitative and quantitative adipocyte lipid accumulation and can control lipolysis.
What is the integrated stress response?
An evolutionarily conserved intracellular signaling network that helps the cell, tissue, and organism to adapt to a variable environment and maintain health.
What does the mitochondrial stress response regulate?
Regulates signaling and various cellular functions
What does mTOR refer to?
Two protein complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2, that function as master switches in the cell’s nutrient sensing pathways.
What is AMPK?
An enzyme that plays a role in cellular energy homeostasis, largely to activate glucose and fatty acid uptake and oxidation when cellular energy is low.
Which nuclear receptors function as regulators of metabolism and liver physiology?
- ERRs
- REV-ERBs
- RORs
- FXR
- PPARs
- LXR
How is LXR activated?
By endogenous ligands, including cholesterol derivatives such as oxysterols and 24(S),25-epoxycholesterol, and by intermediate precursors in the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway, such as desmosterol
What is the relationship between bile acids and FXR?
FXR regulates bile acid synthesis, conjugation, and transport, as well as various aspects of lipid and glucose metabolism
What does activated PPA-alpha provide?
Energy from fatty acid catabolism during starvation and cold acclimatization, PPARγ is activated in the well fed state and regulates the synthesis of fatty acids and related lipids, while PPARβ/δ ensures, among other, that fatty acids can provide energy for working muscles.
What do peptide hormones play a prominent role in?
Controlling energy homeostasis and metabolism
What is systemic physiology?
A branch of physiology that deals with the study of specific organ systems, such as how they function
What does dietary protein profoundly influence?
Organismal traits ultimately affecting healthspan
What are peptide hormones critical factors of?
Determining systemic responses to variations in protein intake
What is pancreatic alpha cell’s recognised for?
Their production of glucagon, a diabetogenic hormone that regulates hepatic glucose production to maintain plasma glucose levels during fasting, has become a focus of attention as a potential target for the treatment of diabetes
What does FGF21 play an important role in?
Regulating hepatic oxidation of fatty acids and gluconeogenesis in response to fasting and during consumption of a ketogenic diet.
What has the past decade of application of the state-of the-art metabolomics and genomics technologies revealed?
The remarkable plasticity of tumor metabolism and bioenergetics.
What has tumour cells used glucose and glutamine for?
Generating cellular energy, reducing power, and metabolic building blocks for biosynthesis.
