Loss of the transcription factor E2F1 elicits a complex metabolic phenotype in mice
underscored by reduced adiposity and protection from high fat diet-induced diabetes. Here,
we demonstrate that E2F1 directly regulates the gene encoding PDK4 (pyruvate
dehydrogenase kinase 4), a key nutrient sensor and modulator of glucose homeostasis that
is chronically elevated in obesity and diabetes and acutely induced under the metabolic
stress of starvation or fasting. We show that loss of E2F1 in vivo blunts PDK4 expression and …