Islet 1 specifies the identity of hypothalamic melanocortin neurons and is critical for normal food intake and adiposity in adulthood.

ABSTRACT: Food intake and body weight regulation depend on proper expression of the proopiomelanocortin gene (Pomc) in a group of neurons located in the mediobasal hypothalamus of all vertebrates. These neurons release POMC-encoded melanocortins, which are potent anorexigenic neuropeptides, and their absence from mice or humans leads to hyperphagia and severe obesity. Although the pathophysiology of hypothalamic POMC neurons is well understood, the genetic program that establishes the neuronal melanocortinergic phenotype and maintains a fully functional neuronal POMC phenotype throughout adulthood remains unknown. Here, we report that the early expression of the LIM-homeodomain transcription factor Islet 1 (ISL1) in the developing hypothalamus promotes the terminal differentiation of melanocortinerg

SUBMITTER: Nasif S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4403183 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature