Metabolic Plasticity and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

A major transcriptional and phenotypic reprogramming event during development is the establishment of the mesodermal layer from the ectoderm through epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). EMT is employed in subsequent developmental events, and also in many physiological and pathological processes, such as the dissemination of cancer cells through metastasis, as a reversible transition between epithelial and mesenchymal states. The remarkable phenotypic remodeling accompanying these transitions is driven by characteristic transcription factors whose activities and/or activation depend upon signaling cues and co-factors, including intermediary metabolites. In this review, we summarize salient metabolic features that enable or instigate these transitions, as well as adaptations undergone by cells to meet the metabolic requirements of their new states, with an emphasis on the roles played by the metabolic regulation of epigenetic modifications, notably methylation and acetylation.