Defective macroautophagy/autophagy and a failure to initiate the adaptive unfolded protein response (UPR) in response to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress contributes to obesity-associated metabolic dysfunction. However, whether and how unresolved ER stress leads to defects in the autophagy pathway and to the progression of obesity-associated hepatic pathologies remains unclear. Obesity suppresses the expression of hepatic spliced XBP1 (X-box binding protein 1; sXBP1), the key transcription factor that promotes the adaptive UPR. Our RNA-seq analysis...