Abstract

Intracellular metabolites act as powerful signalling cues to adjust cell behaviour to the nutrient environment. A variety of metabolites operate in the nucleus as substrates, co-factors, or inhibitors of chromatin-modifying enzymes and have emerged as key determinants of gene regulation. Given that cellular metabolism is highly compartmentalized, our understanding of pathways connecting nutrients to nuclear metabolites has been limited since standard metabolite analyses use whole cells. I will talk about my recent work on the development of novel approaches for sub-cellular metabolite analyses by mass spectrometry, with a focus on the acyl-Coenzyme A metabolite class. This work shows that the nucleus operates as a distinct metabolic compartment and marks an exciting step forward in understanding regulation of metabolism within the nucleus and how this links diet to the epigenome.

To receive information about this seminar series, we would encourage you to join Cambridge Metabolism. Alternatively please contact aml95@medschl.cam.ac.uk for the Zoom link