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Sirtuin 3 (SIRT3), an important regulator of energy metabolism and lipid oxidation, is induced in fasted liver mitochondria and implicated in metabolic syndrome. In fasted liver, SIRT3-mediated increases in substrate flux depend on oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), but precisely how OXPHOS meets the challenge of increased substrate oxidation in fasted liver remains unclear. Here, we show that liver mitochondria in fasting mice adapt to the demand of increased substrate oxidation by increasing their OXPHOS efficiency. In response to cAMP signaling, SIRT3 deacetylated and activated leucine-rich protein 130 (LRP130; official symbol, LRPPRC), promoting a mitochondrial transcriptional program that enhanced hepatic OXPHOS. Using mass spectrometry, we identified SIRT3-regulated lysine residues in LRP130 that generated a lysine-to-arginine (KR) mutant of LRP130 that mimics deacetylated protein. Compared with wild-type LRP130 protein, expression of the KR mutant increased mitochondrial transcription and OXPHOS in vitro. Indeed, even when SIRT3 activity was abolished, activation of mitochondrial transcription and OXPHOS by the KR mutant remained robust, further highlighting the contribution of LRP130 deacetylation to increased OXPHOS in fasted liver. These data establish a link between nutrient sensing and mitochondrial transcription that regulates OXPHOS in fasted liver and may explain how fasted liver adapts to increased substrate oxidation.

About 10% of Down syndrome (DS) infants are born with a transient myeloproliferative disorder (DS-TMD) that spontaneously resolves within the first few months of life. About 20%-30% of these infants subsequently develop acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (DS-AMKL). Somatic mutations leading to the exclusive production of a short GATA1 isoform (GATA1s) occur in all cases of DS-TMD and DS-AMKL. Mice engineered to exclusively produce GATA1s have marked megakaryocytic progenitor (MkP) hyperproliferation during early fetal liver (FL) hematopoiesis, but not during postnatal BM hematopoiesis, mirroring the spontaneous resolution of DS-TMD. The mechanisms that underlie these developmental stage-specific effects are incompletely understood. Here, we report a striking upregulation of type I IFN-responsive gene expression in prospectively isolated mouse BM- versus FL-derived MkPs. Exogenous IFN-α markedly reduced the hyperproliferation FL-derived MkPs of GATA1s mice in vitro. Conversely, deletion of the α/β IFN receptor 1 (Ifnar1) gene or injection of neutralizing IFN-α/β antibodies increased the proliferation of BM-derived MkPs of GATA1s mice beyond the initial postnatal period. We also found that these differences existed in human FL versus BM megakaryocytes and that primary DS-TMD cells expressed type I IFN-responsive genes. We propose that increased type I IFN signaling contributes to the developmental stage-specific effects of GATA1s and possibly the spontaneous resolution of DS-TMD.