Nature Communications (Jun 2019)

Skeletal muscle PGC-1α1 reroutes kynurenine metabolism to increase energy efficiency and fatigue-resistance

  • Leandro Z. Agudelo,
  • Duarte M. S. Ferreira,
  • Shamim Dadvar,
  • Igor Cervenka,
  • Lars Ketscher,
  • Manizheh Izadi,
  • Liu Zhengye,
  • Regula Furrer,
  • Christoph Handschin,
  • Tomas Venckunas,
  • Marius Brazaitis,
  • Sigitas Kamandulis,
  • Johanna T. Lanner,
  • Jorge L. Ruas

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10712-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

Read online

PGC-1α is activated by exercise and promotes resistance to fatigue in muscles. Here, the authors show that PGC-1α activates the malate-aspartate shuttle, and allows muscle to utilise kynurenine, leading to more efficient glucose oxidation and mitochondrial respiration.