Sequential regulation of diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 expression by CAAT/enhancer-binding protein β(C/EBPβ) and C/EBPα during adipogenesis

Diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 (DGAT2) catalyzes the final step of triacylglycerol (TG) synthesis. Despite the existence of an alternative acyltransferase (DGAT1), mice lacking DGAT2 have a severe deficiency of TG in adipose tissue, indicating a nonredundant role for this enzyme in adipocyte TG synthesis. We have studied the regulation of DGAT2 expression during adipogenesis. In both isolated murine preadipocytes and 3T3-L1 cells the temporal pattern of DGAT2 expression closely mimicked that of genes whose expression is regulated by CAAT/enhancer-binding protein β(C/EBPβ). Inhibition of C/EBPβ expression in differentiating preadipocytes reduced DGAT2 expression, and electrophoretic mobility shift assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments identified a promoter element in the DGAT2 gene that is likely to mediate this effect. The importance of C/EBPβ in adipocyte expression of DGAT2 was confirmed by the finding of reduced DGAT2 expression in the adipose tissue of C/EBPβ-null animals. However, DGAT2 expression is maintained at high levels during the later stages of adipogenesis, when C/EBPβ levels decline. We show that, at these later stages of differentiation, C/EBPα is capable of substituting for C/EBPβ at the same promoter element. These observations provide novel insight into the transcriptional regulation of DGAT2 expression. Moreover, they further refine the complex and serial roles of the C/EBP family of transcription factors in inducing and maintaining the metabolic properties of mature adipocytes.