Research Symposium

BIO

My name is Greg Strauss; I am a sophomore from St. Louis, Missouri receiving a double major in chemistry and Japanese. I plan to pursue a doctorate in chemistry and eventually work in the pharmaceutical industry researching medicinal synthesis methods.

YBX1-cBAF subunit interactions and their effects on hepatic lipid metabolism in a setting of diet induced obesity

Abstract

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a growing global
health challenge, driven by excessive hepatic lipid accumulation in the context of obesity
and insulin resistance. With limited therapeutic options, identifying molecular drivers of
MASLD progression is critical. Recent findings implicate Y-box binding protein 1 (Ybx1) as
a maladaptive factor promoting MASLD in diet-induced obesity (Jordan et al., 2024), yet
its exact role in hepatic lipid metabolism remains unclear. Here, we show that Ybx1
interacts with members of cBAF chromatin remodeling which suppress hepatic lipid
accumulation. Contrary to initial expectations that Ybx1 would function in tandem with
cBAF to promote adipocyte-like gene expression, our preliminary data suggests that
knockdown of two cBAF subunits enhances lipid accumulation in hepatocyte-like cells,
regardless of exogenous lipid exposure. These findings suggest that cBAF-mediated lipid
oxidation is impaired by loss of key subunits, driving excess lipid storage. Moreover, we
now suspect YBX1 binds cBAF and cBAF-target sites on adipogenic loci in a negative
regulatory capacity. Ongoing studies aim to confirm and characterize this interplay
between chromatin remodeling, gene expression, and metabolism and MASLD.

Keywords: YBX1, Biology, Genetics