Cloning of the rat pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 gene promoter: activation of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 by the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator.

The pyruvate dehydrogenase complex catalyzes the conversion of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA in mitochondria and is a key regulatory enzyme in the metabolism of glucose to acetyl-CoA. Phosphorylation of pyruvate dehydrogenase by the pyruvate dehydrogenase kinases (PDK) inhibits pyruvate dehydrogenase complex activity. There are four PDK isoforms, and expression of PDK4 and PDK2 genes is elevated in starvation and diabetes, allowing glucose to be conserved while fatty acid oxidation is increased. In these studies we have investigated the transcriptional mechanisms by which the expression of the PDK4 gene is increased. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator (PGC-1alpha) stimulates the expression of genes involved in hepatic gluconeogenesis and mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation. We have found that PGC-1alpha will induce the expression of both the PDK2 and PDK4 genes in primary rat hepatocytes and ventricular myocytes. We cloned the promoter for the rat PDK4 gene. Hepatic nuclear factor 4 (HNF4), which activates many genes in the liver, will induce PDK4 expression. Although HNF4 and PGC-1alpha interact to stimulate several genes encoding gluconeogenic enzymes, the induction of PDK4 does not involve interactions of PGC-1alpha with HNF4. Using the chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, we have demonstrated that HNF4 and PGC-1alpha are associated with the PDK4 gene in vivo. Our data suggest that by inducing PDK genes PGC-1alpha will direct pyruvate away from metabolism into acetyl-CoA and toward the formation of oxaloacetate and into the gluconeogenic pathway.