The transcriptional regulator PRDM12 is critical for Pomc expression in the mouse hypothalamus and controlling food intake, adiposity, and body weight.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Regulation of food intake and energy balance depends on a group of hypothalamic neurons that release anorexigenic melanocortins encoded by the Pomc gene. Although the physiological importance of central melanocortins is well appreciated, the genetic program that defines the functional identity of melanocortin neurons and assures high levels of hypothalamic Pomc expression is only beginning to be understood. This study assessed whether the transcriptional regulator PRDM12, identified as a highly expressed gene in adult mouse POMC neurons, plays an important role in the identity and function of melanocortin neurons.

Methods

We first determined the cellular distribution of PRDM12 in the developing hypothalamus. Then we studied mutant mice with constitutively inactivat

SUBMITTER: Hael CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7011018 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature