Project description:Brown adipose tissue (BAT) protects against obesity by promoting energy expenditure via uncoupled respiration. To uncover BAT-specific long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), we used RNA-seq to reconstruct de novo transcriptomes of mouse brown, inguinal white, and epididymal white fat and identified ~1500 lncRNAs, including 127 BAT-restricted loci induced during differentiation and often targeted by key regulators PPARγ, C/EBPα and C/EBPβ. One of them, lnc-BATE1, is required for establishment and maintenance of BAT identity and thermogenic capacity. lnc-BATE1 inhibition impairs concurrent activation of brown fat and repression of white fat genes, and is partially rescued by exogenous lnc-BATE1 with mutated siRNA-targeting sites, demonstrating a function in trans. We show that lnc-BATE1 binds heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein U and that both are required for brown adipogenesis. Our work provides an annotated catalog for the study of fat depot-selective lncRNAs, available online, and establishes lnc-BATE1 as a novel regulator of BAT development and physiology. Total RNA profiles of BAT, iWAT and eWAT samples were sequenced on the Illumina HiSeq2000 platform
Project description:Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a thermogenic organ that protects animals against hypothermia and obesity. BAT derives from the multipotent paraxial mesoderm; however, the identity of embryonic brown fat progenitor cells and regulators of adipogenic commitment are unclear. We identified the transcription factor GATA6 as a selective marker of brown adipogenic progenitor cells. Deletion of Gata6 in the brown fat lineage resulted in a striking loss of BAT. To gain insight into the mechanism by which GATA6 supports BAT development, we performed ChIP-seq for GATA6 from the BAT of embryonic day 15.5 embryos.
Project description:Brown adipose tissue (BAT) plays an essential role in metabolic homeostasis by dissipating energy via thermogenesis through uncoupling protein 1 (Ucp1). Previously, we reported that the TATA-binding protein Associated Factor 7L (Taf7l) is an important regulator of white adipose tissue (WAT) differentiation. Here, we show that Taf7l also serves as a molecular switch between brown fat and muscle lineages in vivo and in vitro. In adipose tissue, Taf7l containing TFIID complexes associate with PPAR to mediate DNA looping between distal enhancers and core promoter elements. Our findings suggest that presence of the tissue-specific Taf7l subunit in TFIID functions to promote long-range chromatin interactions during BAT lineage specification. mRNA-seq expression profiling wild type and Taf7l knockout interscapular brown adipose tissue (BAT)
Project description:Brown adipose tissue (BAT) protects against obesity by promoting energy expenditure via uncoupled respiration. To uncover BAT-specific long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), we used RNA-seq to reconstruct de novo transcriptomes of mouse brown, inguinal white, and epididymal white fat and identified ~1500 lncRNAs, including 127 BAT-restricted loci induced during differentiation and often targeted by key regulators PPARγ, C/EBPα and C/EBPβ. One of them, lnc-BATE1, is required for establishment and maintenance of BAT identity and thermogenic capacity. lnc-BATE1 inhibition impairs concurrent activation of brown fat and repression of white fat genes, and is partially rescued by exogenous lnc-BATE1 with mutated siRNA-targeting sites, demonstrating a function in trans. We show that lnc-BATE1 binds heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein U and that both are required for brown adipogenesis. Our work provides an annotated catalog for the study of fat depot-selective lncRNAs, available online, and establishes lnc-BATE1 as a novel regulator of BAT development and physiology.
Project description:Obesity and its co-morbidities including type 2 diabetes are increasing at epidemic rates in the U.S. and worldwide. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a potential therapeutic to combat obesity and type 2 diabetes. Increasing BAT mass by transplantation improves metabolic health in rodents, but its clinical translation remains a challenge. Here, we investigated if transplantation of 2-4 million differentiated brown pre-adipocytes from mouse BAT stromal fraction (SVF) or human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) could improve metabolic health. Transplantation of differentiated brown pre-adipocytes, termed ‘committed pre-adipocytes’ from BAT SVF from mice or derived from hPSCs improves glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity in recipient mice under conditions of diet-induced obesity, and this improvement is mediated through the collaborative actions of the liver transcriptome, tissue AKT signaling and FGF21. These data demonstrate that transplantation of a small number of brown adipocytes has significant long-term translational and therapeutic potential to improve glucose metabolism.
Project description:PR (PRD1-BF1-RIZ1 homologous) domain-containing 16 (PRDM16) drives a brown fat differentiation program, but the mechanisms by which PRDM16 activates brown fat-selective genes have been unclear. Through chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) followed by deep sequencing (ChIP-seq) analyses in brown adipose tissue (BAT), we reveal that PRDM16 binding is highly enriched at a broad set of brown fat-selective genes. Importantly, we found that PRDM16 physically binds to MED1, a component of the Mediator complex, and recruits it to superenhancers at brown fat-selective genes. PRDM16 deficiency in BAT reduces MED1 binding at PRDM16 target sites and causes a fundamental change in chromatin architecture at key brown fat-selective genes. Together, these data indicate that PRDM16 controls chromatin architecture and superenhancer activity in BAT.
Project description:We performed a genome-wide deep sequencing analysis of the microRNAs abundant in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from murine brown adipose tissue and in in vitro differentiated mature brown adipocytes. Several microRNAs were identified as differentially regulated when comparing datasets from MSCs vs. mature fat cells. These microRNAs may have an implication in the regulation of adipogenesis as well as thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue (BAT). Examination of BAT-derived MSCs (BAT-MSC; 1 sample) and in vitro differentiated mature brown fat cells (BAT-DIFF; 1 sample) vertis biotechnologie AG, D-85354 Freising, Germany (library construction and sequencing)
Project description:Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is considered as a main site of adaptive thermogenesis and the thermogenic activities of brown and beige adipocytes are also linked to generating heat and counteracting obesity. Recent studies revealed that BAT could secrete certain batokines-like factors especially small extracellular vesicles (sEV), which contributed to the systemic consequences of BAT activities. As a newly emerging class of mediators, some long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have exhibited metabolic regulatory effects in adipocyte development. However, besides the well-studied lncRNAs, the lncRNAs carried by sEV derived from brown adipose tissue (sEV-BAT) have not been characterized yet. In this study, we conducted a lncRNA microarray assay on sEV-WAT and sEV-BAT. A total of 563 types of known lncRNAs were identified to be differentially expressed, among which 232 lncRNAs were upregulated and 331 lncRNAs were downregulated in sEV-BAT. Three novel candidates (AK029592, humanlincRNA1030 and ENSMUST00000152284) were selected for further validation. LncRNA–mRNA network analysis revealed candidate lncRNAs were largely embedded in cellular metabolic pathways. During adipogenic and thermogenic phenotype differentiation in ASCs and 3T3-L1 cells, only the expressions of AK029592 were upregulated. The three lncRNAs were all relatively enriched in brown adipose tissues and brown adipocytes. In different adipocytes, sEV and adipose tissue, the expression of AK029592 and ENSMUST00000152284 were significantly decreased in obese mice compared to lean controls, while obesity could not alter the expression of humanlincRNA1030.
Project description:Brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis and the browning of white adipose tissue are important components of energy expenditure. An RNAseq-based analysis of the mouse BAT transcriptome led us to identify GPR120 as a gene induced by thermogenic activation. GPR120, a G protein-coupled receptor binding unsaturated long-chain fatty acids, is known to mediate some beneficial metabolic actions of polyunsaturated fatty acids. We show that pharmacological activation of GPR120 induces BAT activity and promotes the browning of white fat in mice, whereas GRP120-null mice show impaired browning in response to cold. n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids induce brown and beige adipocyte differentiation and thermogenic activation, and these effects require GPR120. GPR120 activation induces the release of fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF-21) by brown and beige adipocytes and increases blood FGF21 levels. The effects of GPR120 activation are impaired in FGF21-null mice and cells. Thus, the lipid sensor GPR120 constitutes a novel pathway of brown fat activation and involves FGF21.