PEG3 controls lipogenesis through ACLY

Peg3 (Paternally expressed gene 3) is an imprinted gene encoding a DNA-binding protein that is a well-known transcriptional repressor. Previous studies have shown that the mutant phenotypes of Peg3 are associated with the over-expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism. In the current study, we investigated four potential downstream genes of Peg3, which were identified through ChIP-seq data: Acly, Fasn, Idh1, and Hmgcr. In vivo binding of PEG3 to the promoter region of these key genes involved in lipogenesis was subsequently confirmed through individual ChIP experiments. We observed the opposite response of Acly expression levels against the variable gene dosages of Peg3, involving 0x, 1x, and 2x Peg3. This suggests the transcriptional repressor role of Peg3 in the expression levels of Acly. Another set of analyses showed a sex-biased response in the expression levels of Acly, Fasn, and Idh1 against 0x Peg3 with higher levels in female and lower levels in male mammary glands. These results overall highlight that Peg3 may be involved in regulating the expression levels of several key genes in adipogenesis.