Regulation of Glutaminase Activity and Glutamine Metabolism

Glutamine is synthesized primarily in skeletal muscle, lungs, and adipose tissue. Plasma glutamine plays an important role as a carrier of nitrogen, carbon, and energy between organs and is used for hepatic urea synthesis, for renal ammoniagenesis, for gluconeogenesis in both liver and kidney, and as a major respiratory fuel for many cells. The catabolism of glutamine is initiated by either of two isoforms of the mitochondrial glutaminase. Liver-type glutaminase is expressed only in periportal hepatocytes of the postnatal liver, where it effectively couples ammonia production with urea synthesis. Kidney-type glutaminase is abundant in kidney, brain, intestine, fetal liver, lymphocytes, and transformed cells, where the resulting ammonia is released without further metabolism. The two isoenzymes have different structural and kinetic properties that contribute to their function and short-term regulation. Although there is a high degree of identity in amino acid sequences, the two glutaminases are the products of different but related genes. The two isoenzymes are also subject to long-term regulation. Hepatic glutaminase is increased during starvation, diabetes, and feeding a high-protein diet, whereas kidney-type glutaminase is increased only in kidney in response to metabolic acidosis. The adaptations in hepatic glutaminase are mediated by changes in the rate of transcription, whereas kidney-type glutaminase is regulated at a posttranscriptional level.