Differential roles of tankyrase-1 and tankyrase-2 in adipocytes

In this study we provided evidence that tankyrases are involved in adipocyte differentiation. The loss of TNKS1 or TNKS2 decreases the rate of adipocyte differentiation, the suppression being profound in TNKS2 knockout cell lines. The loss of TNKS2 induce changes to cellular proteostasis, centered around the inhibition of autophagy and the induction of mitochondrial oxidation, driven by AMPK activation and the suppression of mTORC1 activity. The loss of TNKS1 also led to disturbed proteostasis and enhanced mitochondrial OXPHOS, however, the effects were more restricted than in the case of TNKS2 knockout and the molecular mechanism was likely different, as the dysbalance of the AMPK/mTORC1 system was not observed in the TNKS1 knockouts.