Logo image
Genetics-nutrition interactions control diurnal enhancer-promoter dynamics and liver lipid metabolism
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Genetics-nutrition interactions control diurnal enhancer-promoter dynamics and liver lipid metabolism

Dishu Zhou, Ying Chen, Panpan Liu, Kun Zhu, Juliet Holder-Haynes, S. Julie-Ann Lloyd, Cam Mong La, Inna I. Astapova, Seunghee Choa, Ying Xiong, …
Cell metabolism, Vol.37(10), pp.1961-1979.e7
10/07/2025
DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2025.07.010
PMID: 40858101

View Online

Abstract

The circadian clock controls 24-h rhythmic processes. However, how genetic variations outside clock genes impact peripheral diurnal rhythms remains largely unknown. Here, we find that genetic variation contributes to different diurnal patterns of hepatic gene expression in both humans and mice. Nutritional challenges alter the rhythmicity of gene expression in mouse liver in a strain-specific manner. Remarkably, genetics and nutrition interdependently control more than 80% of rhythmic gene and enhancer-promoter interactions (E-PIs), with a noncanonical clock regulator, estrogen-related receptor gamma (ESRRγ), emerging as a top transcription factor during motif mining. Knockout of Esrrγ abolishes strain-specific metabolic processes in response to diet in mice, while single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with rhythmic gene expression are enriched in E-PIs in steatotic human livers and correlate with lipid metabolism traits. These findings reveal a previously underappreciated temporal aspect of genetics-environment interaction in regulating lipid metabolic traits, with implications for individual variations in obesity-associated disease susceptibility and personalized chronotherapy. [Display omitted] •Genetic variants contribute to variation in peripheral diurnal rhythms•More than 80% of rhythmic genes and E-PIs are interdependent on genetics and nutrition•Noncanonical clock regulators govern rhythmic expression, lipid droplets, and metabolism•Human SNPs linked to rhythmic gene expression are tightly associated with metabolic traits Noncanonical clock regulators bridge genetics and nutrition to mediate 3D enhancer-promoter interactions, contributing to diurnal rhythm variation and metabolic disease risk.
3D enhancer-promoter interaction diurnal rhythm genetic variation human metabolic traits metabolic disorders

Details

Metrics

Logo image