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Summary: Lysine succinylation was recently identified as a post-translational modification in cells. However, the molecular mechanism underlying lysine succinylation remains unclear. Here, we show that carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (CPT1A) has lysine succinyltransferase (LSTase) activity in vivo and in vitro. Using a stable isotope labeling by amino acid in cell culture (SILAC)-based proteomics approach, we found that 101 proteins were more succinylated in cells expressing wild-type (WT) CPT1A compared with vector control cells. One of the most heavily succinylated proteins in this analysis was enolase 1. We found that CPT1A WT succinylated enolase 1 and reduced enolase enzymatic activity in cells and in vitro. Importantly, mutation of CPT1A Gly710 (G710E) selectively inactivated carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPTase) activity but not the LSTase activity that decreased enolase activity in cells and promoted cell proliferation under glutamine depletion. These findings suggest that CPT1A acts as an LSTase that can regulate enzymatic activity of a substrate protein and metabolism independent of its classical CPTase activity.

High-fat diet (HFD)-fed mouse models have been widely used to study early type 2 diabetes. Decreased β-cell glucokinase (GCK) expression has been observed in HFD-induced diabetes. However, owing to its crucial roles in glucose metabolism in the liver and in islet β-cells, the contribution of decreased GCK expression to the development of HFD-induced diabetes is unclear. Here, we employed a β-cell-targeted gene transfer vector and determined the impact of β-cell-specific increase in GCK expression on β-cell function and glucose handling in vitro and in vivo. Overexpression of GCK enhanced glycolytic flux, ATP-sensitive potassium channel activation and membrane depolarization, and increased proliferation in Min6 cells. β-cell-targeted GCK transduction did not change glucose handling in chow-fed C57BL/6 mice. Although adult mice fed a HFD showed reduced islet GCK expression, impaired glucose tolerance and decreased glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS), β-cell-targeted GCK transduction improved glucose tolerance and restored GSIS. Islet perifusion experiments verified restored GSIS in isolated HFD islets by GCK transduction. Thus, our data identify impaired β-cell GCK expression as an underlying mechanism for dysregulated β-cell function and glycemic control in HFD-induced diabetes. Our data also imply an etiological role of GCK in diet-induced diabetes. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.