Gene expression analysis of H1299 cells in response to the presence or absence of glutamine or glucose

By a transcriptome analysis using RNA sequencing in H1299 cells, a non-small cell lung cancer cell line (NSCLC), we determined the response of lipogenic genes to absence vs. presence of glutamine (Gln) or glucose (Gluc). We found that neither glutamine nor glucose alone was able to activate the expression of genes regulating fatty acid and cholesterol synthesis, and uptake, including SREBF1, SREBF2, ACLY, ACACA, FASN, SCD1, HMGCR and LDLR, as compared to absence of both. And, activation of lipogenic genes required the presence of both glutamine and glucose, but SCAP gene expression was not affected by either glutamine or glucose. The RNA sequencing analysis in H1299 cells also confirmed that ammonia, similarly to glutamine, significantly activated the expression of genes controlling the fatty acid and cholesterol synthesis pathways as compared to glucose alone. This study detemines the intrinsic molecular connection between glutamine, glucose and lipid synthesis. H1299 cells were treated in fresh serum-free RPMI 1640 medium with or without glutamine (4 mM) or glucose (5 mM), or NH4Cl (4 mM) for 12 hr before analysis.