Analyzing Phosphorylation-Dependent Regulation of Subcellular Localization and Transcriptional Activity of Transcriptional Coactivator NT-PGC-1

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha (PGC-1α) is a nuclear transcriptional coactivator that regulates the genes involved in energy metabolism. Recent evidence has been provided that alternative splicing of PPARGC1A gene produces a functional but predominantly cytosolic isoform of PGC-1α (NT-PGC-1α). We have demonstrated that transcriptional coactivation capacity of NT-PGC-1α is directly correlated with its nuclear localization in a PKA phosphorylation-dependent manner. In this chapter, we describe quantitative imaging analysis methods that are developed to measure the relative fluorescence intensity of the protein of interest in the nucleus and cytoplasm in a single cell and the frequency distribution of nuclear/cytoplasmic intensity ratios in the population of cells, respectively. This chapter also describes transient cotransfection and dual-luciferase reporter gene assay that examine the ability of coactivators to activate the transcriptional activity of transcription factors.