Figure S1 - The Association of Cysteine with Obesity, Inflammatory Cytokines and Insulin Resistance in Hispanic Children and Adolescents

Enzymes in the sulfur amino acid pathway that are related to body weight/composition in mice. Knockouts of the enzymes shown in bold are associated with prominent body weight changes. BHMT [2] and GCL modifier subunit (GCLM) [3] knockouts have high metabolic rate and insulin sensitivity and resist obesity. CBS knockouts have markedly decreased body fat [1]. CGL and GGT knockouts have low body weight that is reversed by L-cysteine [45] or N-acetylcysteine [46] supplementation. Common to all 5 knockouts is decreased plasma cyste(i)ne [3], [46] or tCys [1], [6], [45]. Hepatic expression of stearoyl coenzyme A desaturase, a lipid enzyme that is considered a key checkpoint in development of obesity [7] was investigated in CBS and GCLM knockouts and found to be decreased [1], [4]. BHMT, betaine homocysteine methyltransferase; CBS, cystathionine beta synthase; CGL, cystathionine gamma lyase; GCL, glutamate-cysteine ligase; GGT, gamma-glutamyltransferase; MS, methionine synthase; CDO, cysteine dioxygenase. Dotted lines show pathways with omitted intermediates for purposes of clarity. (EPS)