Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a metabolically beneficial organ capable of burning fat by dissipating chemical energy into heat, thereby increasing energy expenditure. Moreover, subcutaneous white adipose tissue can undergo so-called browning/beiging. The recent recognition of the presence of brown or beige adipocytes in human adults has attracted much attention to elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying the thermogenic adipose program. Many key transcriptional regulators critical for the thermogenic gene program centering on activating the UCP1 promoter, have been discovered. Thermogenic gene expression in brown adipocytes rely on co-ordinated actions of a multitude of transcription factors, including EBF2, PPARγ, Zfp516 and Zc3h10. These transcription factors probably integrate into a cohesive network for BAT gene program. Moreover, these transcription factors recruit epigenetic factors, such as LSD1 and MLL3/4, for specific histone signatures to establish the favorable chromatin landscape. In this review, we discuss advances made in understanding the molecular mechanism underlying the thermogenic gene program, particularly epigenetic regulation.
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March 2020
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The sensor protein H-NOX from Vibrio cholerae can be reversibly activated by oxidation of cysteine residues to a zinc binding site. Computational models along with EXAFS and mass spectrometry data reveal the details of this process. For further information, see the article by Mukhopadhyay and colleagues (pp. 1123–1136) in this issue. The image was provided by Erik Yukl.
Review Article|
March 27 2020
Epigenetic dynamics of the thermogenic gene program of adipocytes
In Collection
Adipose biology
Danielle Yi;
Danielle Yi
Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology and Endocrinology Program, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, U.S.A.
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Hai P. Nguyen;
Hai P. Nguyen
Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology and Endocrinology Program, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, U.S.A.
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Hei Sook Sul
Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology and Endocrinology Program, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, U.S.A.
Correspondence: Hei Sook Sul (hsul@berkeley.edu)
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
January 06 2020
Revision Received:
March 09 2020
Accepted:
March 11 2020
Online ISSN: 1470-8728
Print ISSN: 0264-6021
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society
2020
Biochem J (2020) 477 (6): 1137–1148.
Article history
Received:
January 06 2020
Revision Received:
March 09 2020
Accepted:
March 11 2020
Citation
Danielle Yi, Hai P. Nguyen, Hei Sook Sul; Epigenetic dynamics of the thermogenic gene program of adipocytes. Biochem J 27 March 2020; 477 (6): 1137–1148. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BCJ20190599
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