The Diabetes Gene Tcf7l2 Organizes Gene Expression in the Liver and Regulates Amino Acid Metabolism

Abstract

TCF7L2 harbors the strongest genetic association with diabetes identified thus far. However, its function in liver has remained unclear. Here, we find using mice with liver-specific deletion, that Tcf7l2 plays a central role in maintaining hepatic zonation. That is, in the normal liver, many genes show gradients of expression across the liver lobule; in the absence of Tcf7l2, these gradients collapse. One major consequence is the disorganization of glutamine metabolism, with a loss of the glutamine production program, ectopic expression of the glutamine consumption program, and a decrease in glutamine levels. In parallel, metabolomic profiling shows glutamine to be the most significantly decreased metabolite in individuals harboring the rs7903146 variant in TCF7L2. Taken together, these data indicate that hepatic TCF7L2 has a secondary role in glycemic control, but a primary role in maintaining transcriptional architecture and glutamine homeostasis.