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Mitochondrial L-2-hydroxyglutarate is a physiologic signaling metabolite [RNA-seq}

GSE326291 Mus musculus (mouse) RNA-seq (gene expression) 36 samples Submitted 2026/04/02 Platform GPL19057Platform GPL30172
At a glance

RNA-seq (gene expression) · mouse · 36 samples

What it is
RNA-seq (gene expression)Gene activity measured by sequencing. The summary does not mention single-cell work, so this is most likely bulk: one average per sample, the usual starting point for comparing groups.
Organism
Mus musculus (mouse)
Samples
36 samples: 8 conditions, mostly with about 5 replicates eachGroups are read from the sample names, not from the paper. Check the list below.
Data you can get
A processed table (series matrix) and supplementary files from NCBI; the raw sequencing reads from ENA. Which of these hold counts depends on the study, so check the file list.
Summary (written by the submitters)
L-2-hydroxyglutarate (L-2-HG) is a low-abundance metabolite in mammals due to the mitochondrial enzyme L-2-HG dehydrogenase (L2HGDH), which oxidizes L-2-HG to 2-oxoglutarate (2-OG) to prevent its accumulation. In humans lacking L2HGDH activity, L-2-HG builds up, leading to L-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria, a rare childhood neurometabolic disorder.
Read the full summary ↓
Thus, L-2-HG is often classified as a toxic metabolite. Furthermore, L-2-HG is produced in response to hypoxia, acidic pH, and electron transport chain (ETC) impairment. However, whether L-2-HG has a physiological function is unclear. Here, we investigated whether L-2-HG qualifies as a physiologic signaling metabolite by testing three criteria: regulated levels, defined molecular targets, and a measurable physiological function. We report that an elevated mitochondrial NADH/NAD⁺ ratio drives malate dehydrogenase 2 (MDH2) to reduce 2-OG into L-2-HG, while L2HGDH oxidizes L-2-HG back to 2-OG within the mitochondrial matrix without requiring a functional ETC. Proteome integral solubility alteration (PISA) assays revealed the KDM4 family of H3K9 demethylases as L-2-HG-responsive targets. Consistent with this, elevated L-2-HG repressed nascent transcription of specific gene sets and promoted accumulation of the repressive histone mark H3K9me3 at those loci. In vivo, ubiquitous early embryonic L2HGDH overexpression lowered L-2-HG, reduced postnatal growth, and caused postnatal mortality. Despite systemic lowering of L-2-HG levels, kidneys exhibited a unique vulnerability, displaying functional impairments and histologic alterations. Mechanistically, L-2-HG depletion in the postnatal kidney resulted in the loss of H3K9me3 specifically at L1MdTf retrotransposons, leading to their derepression and coinciding with activation of the integrated stress response (ISR) and inflammation pathways. Our findings establish mitochondrial L-2-HG as a physiologic signaling metabolite that couples mitochondrial redox state to chromatin regulation, which is essential for postnatal kidney function and survival. These findings suggest that metabolites previously regarded as toxic may also serve critical physiological functions.
This dataset
Download · which file do I need?

Direct links to NCBI and ENA, no account and no request form. Pick by what you want to do: take the small processed table to look, the supplementary files to re-analyse, or the original raw data to start over.

1 · Just have a look

Processed table

The series matrix: one table of values per sample as the submitters processed it. The smallest download, and it opens in Excel or R. Start here to see what the data look like.

2 · Re-analyse it

Supplementary files

The count tables and other files the authors uploaded. Take only the samples you need, or the whole study as GSE326291_RAW.tar (it can run to tens of gigabytes).

3 · Start from the raw reads

Raw sequencing reads

The original FASTQ files, straight from the sequencer, held at ENA. Large, and you align them yourself, so only choose this if you need to re-process the study from scratch.

What the files usually look like: For RNA-seq the counts are usually a table among the supplementary files (look for 'counts', 'expression', 'FPKM' or 'TPM' in the file name). The series matrix of a sequencing study is sometimes nearly empty.

Also filed as BioProject PRJNA1445073 and SRA study SRP687661. Searching any of these in the dataset finder brings you back here.

Study design
8 conditions, mostly with about 5 replicates each
L2HGDH_OE_Kidney ×5 WT_Kidney ×5 L2HGDH_OE_Live ×5 WT_Live ×5 Untreated_EV ×4 Myxothiazol_EV ×4 Untreated_L2hgdh ×4 Myxothiazol_L2hgdh ×4

Supports a between-group comparison across 36 samples.

How we read this: 8 replicated groups read from 36 sample titles; they account for 36 of them. These groups are guessed from the sample names, not taken from the paper, so check them against the sample list below before relying on them.

Samples in this study
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