Metabolic Roadmap to Nephrogenesis

CKD and hypertension to impact a staggering 1.5 billion individuals within the next decade. Optimal fetal growth and development are outcomes of a delicate interplay between genetic and environmental factors. Nutrition emerges as a pivotal environmental determinant, orchestrating proper organogenesis. Malnutrition disrupts normal embryo development and potentially leads to chronic diseases in later life. Our understanding of the specific metabolic routes and their impact on kidney development is still elusive. Here, we used a multi-omics approach to study the importance of glucose metabolism to proper kidney development. We cultured E13.5 embryonic kidneys in the presence or absence of partial inhibition of glycolysis and submitted it to transcriptomic and proteomic profiling. We found that glycolysis-derived acetyl-CoA is an intracellular pleiotropic agent pivotal for proper kidney development.