Hepatic glycine N-methyltransferase is up-regulated by excess dietary methionine in rats.

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Rowling MJ, McMullen MH, Chipman DC, Schalinske KL

Hepatic glycine N-methyltransferase is up-regulated by excess dietary methionine in rats.

J Nutr. 2002 Sep;132(9):2545-50.

PubMed ID

12221207 [ View in PubMed

]

Abstract

Glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT) regulates S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) levels and the ratio of SAM:S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH). In liver, methionine availability, both from the diet and via the folate-dependent one-carbon pool, modulates GNMT activity to maintain an optimal SAM:SAH ratio. The regulation of GNMT activity is accomplished via posttranslational and allosteric mechanisms. We more closely examined GNMT regulation in various tissues as a function of excess dietary methyl groups. Sprague Dawley rats were fed either a control diet (10% casein plus 0.3% L-methionine) or the control diet supplemented with graded levels (0.5-2%) of L-methionine. Pair-fed control groups of rats were included due to the toxicity associated with high methionine consumption. As expected, the hepatic activity of GNMT was significantly elevated in a dose-dependent fashion after 10 d of feeding the diets containing excess methionine. Moreover, the abundance of hepatic GNMT protein was similarly increased. The kidney had a significant increase in GNMT as a function of dietary methionine, but to a much lesser extent than in the liver. For pancreatic tissue, neither the activity of GNMT nor the abundance of the protein was responsive to excess dietary methionine. These data suggest that additional mechanisms contribute to regulation of GNMT such that synthesis of the protein is greater than its degradation. In addition, methionine-induced regulation of GNMT is dose dependent and appears to be tissue specific, the latter suggesting that the role it plays in the kidney and pancreas may in part differ from its hepatic function.

DrugBank Data that Cites this Article

Drug Targets

Drug	Target	Kind	Organism	Pharmacological Action	Actions
Ademetionine	Glycine N-methyltransferase	Protein	Humans	Unknown	Cofactor	Details