A gut microbiome-derived metabolite promotes obesity

Delta-valerobetaine is identified as a gut microbiome-derived metabolite that correlates with adiposity in humans, while exacerbating diet-induced obesity in mice.

See Liu, Owens, Saeedi et al.

SARS-CoV-2 replication relies on lipids

Cellular fatty acid synthesis is shown to be required for SARS-CoV-2 replication, and treatment with inhibitors of fatty acid synthase inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication and prolongs survival in vitro and in vivo.

See Chu, Xing, and Du et al.

Embryonic metabolism

The metabolic landscape of early murine embryo development is reconstructed, which provides insight into the metabolic processes associated with the transition of cells from totipotency to pluripotency.

See Zhao, Yao, Yu, Zhang, Xu et al.

Intestinal maladaptation in obesity

At a single-cell level, the molecular mechanisms underlying changes to intestinal stem cells during an obesogenic diet are described, casting light on intestinal maladaptation during obesity.

See Aliluev and Tritschler et al.

Leptin enters the brain through a tanycyte shuttle

Duquenne et al. find that leptin’s entry into the brain is mediated by a tanycyte LepR–EGFR shuttle, which is required for leptin’s peripheral actions.

SeeDuquenne et al.

Malaria metabolomics

The malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, is commonly transmitted by mosquitoes. Abdrabou et al. map longitudinal changes in the serum metabolome and transcriptional changes in immune cells in children from two different ethnic groups in West Africa, before and after exposure to seasonal malaria, thereby identifying an immunosuppressive role of endogenous steroids induced by P. falciparum infection.

See Abdrabou et al.

Painful PUFAs

A diet rich in ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acidsis shown to lead to the development of peripheral nerve damage in mice, thus revealing a mechanism through which dietary habitscan act as a risk factor for chronic pain.

See Boyd et al.

The metabolic roots of breast cancer subtypes in mammary epithelial cells

Mahendralingam et al. find that the lineage-rooted metabolic identities of normal mammary cells reflect the metabolism of breast cancer subtypes.

See Mahendralingam et al.

Thermogenic adipocyte progenitors in perivascular adipose tissue

Angueira et al. and Shamsi et al. identify populations of vascular smooth muscle cells that give rise to thermogenic adipocyte progenitors in brown and perivascular adipose tissues.

See Angueira et al. and Shamsi et al.

Metabolizing alcohol via ALDH2 in cerebellar astrocytes

Jin et al. find that acetate produced by ALDH2 in cerebellar astrocytes contributes to the behavioural effects of alcohol.

See Jin et al.

Untangling the central and peripheral GLP-1 signalling circuitry

Brierley et al. find that central and peripheral GLP-1 systems suppress eating via independent gut–brain circuits.

See Brierley et al.

Organelle-associated long non-coding RNAs

Sang et al. identify subcellularly localized long non-coding RNAs that respond to nutrient stress, characterizing the mitochondrial lncRNA GAS5 in tuning tricarboxylic acid flux.

See Sang et al.