Insulin regulation of glucokinase gene expression: Evidence against a role for sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 in primary hepatocytes

Liver key genes for carbohydrate and lipid homeostasis are regulated by insulin and glucose. The sterol regulatory-element binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c) has emerged as a mediator of insulin effects on gene transcription, particularly on glucokinase (GK). In this paper, we show that despite stimulation of GK promoter transcription by overexpression of mature SREBP-1c, insulin induced GK transcription at least 4 h ahead of accumulation of mature SREBP-1c in the nucleus. Importantly, the knockdown of SREBP-1 mRNA using a RNA-interference technique reduced the level of nuclear SREBP-1 protein, diminished fatty acid synthase mRNA level, but did not affect GK and L-pyruvate kinase mRNA levels. We concluded that SREBP-1 is unlikely to be the mediator of the early insulin effect on GK gene transcription.