In this study, we examined the role of SCD1 click here in autophagy using the tsc2(-/-) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) possessing constitutively active MTORC1 as a cellular model. We found that mRNA and protein levels of SCD1 are significantly elevated in the tsc2(-/-) MEFs compared with Tsc2(+/+) MEFs, resulting in significant increases in levels of various lipid classes. Furthermore, inhibition of SCD1 activity

by either a chemical inhibitor or genetic knockdown resulted in an increase of autophagic flux only in the tsc2(-/-) MEFs. Induction of autophagy was independent of MTOR as MTORC1 activity was not suppressed by SCD1 inhibition. Loss of phosphorylation on AKT Ser473 was observed upon SCD1 inhibition and such AKT inactivation was due to disruption of lipid raft formation, without affecting the formation and activity of MTORC2. Increased nuclear translocation of FOXO1 was observed following AKT inactivation, leading to increased transcription of genes involved in the autophagic process. The tsc2(-/-) MEFs were also

more susceptible to apoptosis induced by SCD1 inhibition and blockage of autophagy sensitized the cell death response. These results revealed a novel function of SCD1 on regulation of autophagy via lipogenesis and the lipid rafts-AKT-FOXO1 pathway.”
“In wheat, monocarpic senescence is a tightly regulated see more process during which nitrogen (N) and micronutrients stored pre-anthesis are remobilized from vegetative tissues to the developing grains. Recently, a close connection between senescence and remobilization was shown through the map-based cloning of the GPC (grain check details protein content)

gene in wheat. GPC-B1 encodes a NAC transcription factor associated with earlier senescence and increased grain protein, iron and zinc content, and is deleted or non-functional in most commercial wheat varieties. In the current research, we identified ‘loss of function’ ethyl methanesulfonate mutants for the two GPC-B1 homoeologous genes; GPC-A1 and GPC-D1, in a hexaploid wheat mutant population. The single gpc-a1 and gpc-d1 mutants, the double gpc-1 mutant and control lines were grown under field conditions at four locations and were characterized for senescence, GPC, micronutrients and yield parameters. Our results show a significant delay in senescence in both the gpc-a1 and gpc-d1 single mutants and an even stronger effect in the gpc-1 double mutant in all the environments tested in this study. The accumulation of total N in the developing grains showed a similar increase in the control and gpc-1 plants until 25 days after anthesis (DAA) but at 41 and 60 DAA the control plants had higher grain N content than the gpc-1 mutants. At maturity, GPC in all mutants was significantly lower than in control plants while grain weight was unaffected.