Molecular control of brite adipogenesis: Identification of novel cell surface markers, transcriptional regulators and functional components

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Brite (brown-in-white) adipocytes are brown adipocyte-like cells found in white adipose tissue (WAT) of rodents and/or humans. Similar to brown adipocytes, mitochondrial uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) in brite adipocytes can directly dissipate chemical energy as heat upon activation, a process known as nonshivering thermogenesis. In mice the recruitment, maintenance and activation of brite adipocytes in WAT results in beneficial metabolic effects, such as resistance to diet-induced obesity and improved glucose tolerance. As brite adipocytes represent a new putative therapeutic target for metabolic diseases, this proposal aims to elucidate crucial aspects of brite adipocyte biology on the molecular, developmental and functional level. Based on transcriptome data of primary cultured brite adipocytes obtained from five inbred mouse strains with different propensity for brite adipogenesis we selected candidate genes encoding for cell surface markers of precursors or brite adipocytes, transcriptional regulators of brite adipogenesis and functional components of the thermogenic machinery in brite mitochondria. We will investigate the role of these candidate genes for brite adipocytes in primary cell culture as well as in vivo.