Role of Acyl‐CoA:Diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 (DGAT2) in Energy Metabolism in Skeletal Muscle Cells

Acyl‐CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 (DGAT2) is an enzyme that catalyzes the final step of triacylglycerol (TG) synthesis, a reaction that covalently links diacylglycerols and fatty acyl‐CoA substrates. Previous studies suggest that lipid species produced during TG synthesis are involved in regulation of energy metabolism and overexpression of DGAT2 modify insulin signaling in skeletal muscle. This study was designed to characterize how DGAT2 is regulated and its role in glucose utilization in skeletal muscle cells. C2C12 mouse skeletal myoblast were utilized and DGAT2 expression in response to glucose, fatty acids or hormones were measured. For functional characterization, siRNA mediated knockdown of DGAT2 was performed. DGAT2 mRNA expression was increased during cellular differentiation of skeletal myotubes. DGAT2 expression was highly responsive to insulin treatment but was not much affected by high glucose treatment. DAGT2 siRNA transfected cells decreased GLUT4 mRNA expression (29‐37%) but increased [1‐14C] oleic acid incorporation into acid soluble metabolites (ASM) which are product of β‐oxidation with the increase of UCP2 mRNA expression. These results indicate that fatty acid metabolites derived from DGAT2 action are involved in glucose uptake in skeletal muscle cells. Future study needs to identify how DGAT2 affect glucose utilization and insulin signaling process in skeletal muscle This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2012R1A1A1019253).