G6PDH as a key immunometabolic and redox trigger in arthropods

Bruno Moraes; Renato Martins; Cintia Lopes; Ronald Martins; Angélica Arcanjo; Jhenifer Nascimento; Satoru Konnai; Itabajara da Silva Vaz Jr; Carlos Logullo

doi:10.3389/fphys.2023.1287090

G6PDH as a key immunometabolic and redox trigger in arthropods

Front Physiol. 2023 Nov 17:14:1287090. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2023.1287090. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Bruno Moraes^{1

2}, Renato Martins^{1

2}, Cintia Lopes^{1

2}, Ronald Martins³, Angélica Arcanjo^{1

2}, Jhenifer Nascimento^{1

2}, Satoru Konnai⁴, Itabajara da Silva Vaz Jr^{2

5}, Carlos Logullo^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
² Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular-INCT, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
³ Programa de Computação Científica, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, IOC, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
⁴ Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
⁵ Centro de Biotecnologia and Faculdade de Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Abstract

The enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) plays crucial roles in glucose homeostasis and the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), being also involved in redox metabolism. The PPP is an important metabolic pathway that produces ribose and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), which are essential for several physiologic and biochemical processes, such as the synthesis of fatty acids and nucleic acids. As a rate-limiting step in PPP, G6PDH is a highly conserved enzyme and its deficiency can lead to severe consequences for the organism, in particular for cell growth. Insufficient G6PDH activity can lead to cell growth arrest, impaired embryonic development, as well as a reduction in insulin sensitivity, inflammation, diabetes, and hypertension. While research on G6PDH and PPP has historically focused on mammalian models, particularly human disorders, recent studies have shed light on the regulation of this enzyme in arthropods, where new functions were discovered. This review will discuss the role of arthropod G6PDH in regulating redox homeostasis and immunometabolism and explore potential avenues for further research on this enzyme in various metabolic adaptations.

Keywords: NADPH; arthropods; glucose metabolism; glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase; immunometabolism; pentose phosphate pathway; redox.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior–Brazil (CAPES)–Finance Code 001.