Feast or Famine: The Switch That Helps Your Liver Adapt
Thursday, August 25, 2016 - 11:31
in Biology & Nature
Scientists at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified a previously unknown way that stress hormones (glucocorticoids) control genes in the liver to help the body adapt to the fasting state. The study, published today in Cell Metabolism, describes an obscure protein, SETDB2, that's increased during times of fasting and alters the genome to help turn on genes needed to adjust to the absence of food.