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Dietary interventions are effective ways to extend or shorten lifespan. By examining midlife hepatic gene expressions in mice under different dietary conditions, which resulted in different lifespans and aging-related phenotypes, we were able to identify genes and pathways that modulate the aging process. We found that pathways transcriptionally correlated with diet-modulated lifespan and physiological changes were enriched for lifespan-modifying genes. Intriguingly, mitochondrial gene expression correlated with lifespan and anticorrelated with aging-related pathological changes, whereas peroxisomal gene expression showed an opposite trend. Both organelles produce reactive oxygen species, a proposed causative factor of aging. This finding implicates a contribution of peroxisome to aging. Consistent with this hypothesis, lowering the expression levels of peroxisome proliferation genes decreased the cellular peroxide levels and extended the lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans . These findings show that transcriptional changes resulting from dietary interventions can effectively reflect causal factors in aging and identify previously unknown or under-appreciated longevity pathways, such as the peroxisome pathway.

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident protein kinase/endoribonuclease inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1) is activated through transautophosphorylation in response to protein folding overload in the ER lumen and maintains ER homeostasis by triggering a key branch of the unfolded protein response. Here we show that mammalian IRE1α in liver cells is also phosphorylated by a kinase other than itself in response to metabolic stimuli. Glucagon-stimulated protein kinase PKA, which in turn phosphorylated IRE1α at Ser 724 , a highly conserved site within the kinase activation domain. Blocking Ser 724 phosphorylation impaired the ability of IRE1α to augment the up-regulation by glucagon signaling of the expression of gluconeogenic genes. Moreover, hepatic IRE1α was highly phosphorylated at Ser 724 by PKA in mice with obesity, and silencing hepatic IRE1α markedly reduced hyperglycemia and glucose intolerance. Hence, these results suggest that IRE1α integrates signals from both the ER lumen and the cytoplasm in the liver and is coupled to the glucagon signaling in the regulation of glucose metabolism.

Leptin regulates energy balance and glucose metabolism by activation of multiple signaling cascades mediated by the long-form leptin receptor Ob-Rb. However, the whole spectrum of signaling actions through the 3 cytoplasmic tyrosines of mouse Ob-Rb remains to be completely defined in vivo. Here, we generated 2 knockin lines of mice expressing mutant leptin receptors with phenylalanine substitution for all 3 tyrosines (Y123F) or for Tyr 1138 alone (Y3F). Y123F animals developed overt obesity similar to that of Y3F animals with abrogated hypothalamic activation of STAT3 by leptin, but they exhibited more severe impairment in glucose tolerance. In striking contrast to db / db mice, however, both Y123F and Y3F mice showed attenuated adiposity with reduced hyperphagia, marked improvement in physical activity and adaptive thermogenesis, and significantly ameliorated glycemic control. Further, Y123F mice had hypothalamic neuropeptide Y/agouti-related protein expression maintained at prominently lower levels compared with db / db mice. Thus, these results provide direct physiological evidence that Ob-Rb exerts crucial metabolic actions not only through tyrosine-dependent, but also tyrosine-independent mechanisms in control of energy balance and glucose homeostasis.