Project description:Adipose tissues play a pivotal role in energy homeostasis. They are existent in two forms: white adipose tissue and brown adipose tissue (BAT). Being the primary source of non-shivering thermogenesis of mammals, BAT plays an irreplaceable role in maintaining body temperature . Damaged DNA binding protein 1 (DDB1) is usually recognized as a component of the CUL4-DDB1 E3 complex. We have previously shown that DDB1 functions independently of CUL4 to promote adipogenesis. In the thesis, we focus on the function of DDB1 in mature adipocytes. We crossed Ddb1f/f mice with Adipoq-Cre or Ucp1-Cre mice to generate adipose tissue or BAT-specific mice, designated Ddb1-AKO and Ddb1-BKO mice respectively. At 8-12 weeks, BAT in these mice was servely whitened with decreased mitochdiral content. The thermogenic genes were also significantly downregulated at both RNA and protein levels. To further characterize the effect of DDB1 on thermogenesis, we first examined the bdy temperature of the pulps on postnatal day 3, and found that depletion of DDB1 caused a significant decrease in surface temperature.When the adult mice were subjected to cold challenge, both Ddb1-AKO and Ddb1-BKO mice showed dramatically decreased body temperature compared with control mice. At the end of the experiment, Ddb1-AKO and Ddb1-BKO mice had higher contents in BAT triglycerides and lower blood glucose level. Furthermore, the oxygen comsumption in Ddb1-AKO and Ddb1-BKO mice failed to respond to epinephrine injection. . All these results above demonstrated that lacking of DDB1 in brown adipocytes leads to a destruction in thermogenesis of BAT. We have also examined the phenotypes of Ddb1-AKO and Ddb1-BKO mice on high-fat-diet feeding. Compared with control mice, these mice showed decreased body weight, but significantly glucose intolerance and increased triglycierde content in liver, indicating that these mice have partial lipodystrophy. To study whether the effect of DDB1 was dependent on CUL4, we generated adipose tissue-specific Cul4a or CUl4b knockout mice, and found that these mice have no visible defect in BAT morphology compared with control mice, indicating a CUL4-independent function of DDB1. RNA-Seq analysis revealed that DDB1 is required for cold-induced expression of around 900 genes. ChIP-Seq analysis revelaed that these genes were subjected to regulation of promoter-proximally paused RNA polymerase II (Pol II), and that DDB1 is required for the release of paused Pol II upon cold stimulation. Our findings have thus revealed that DDB1 plays an important role in maintaining the theremogenic function of BAT by regulating the expression of thermogenic genes upon cold stimulation. Our studies will shed insights into transcriptional regulation of thermogenic gene
Project description:Adipose tissues play a pivotal role in energy homeostasis. They are existent in two forms: white adipose tissue and brown adipose tissue (BAT). Being the primary source of non-shivering thermogenesis of mammals, BAT plays an irreplaceable role in maintaining body temperature . Damaged DNA binding protein 1 (DDB1) is usually recognized as a component of the CUL4-DDB1 E3 complex. We have previously shown that DDB1 functions independently of CUL4 to promote adipogenesis. In the thesis, we focus on the function of DDB1 in mature adipocytes. We crossed Ddb1f/f mice with Adipoq-Cre or Ucp1-Cre mice to generate adipose tissue or BAT-specific mice, designated Ddb1-AKO and Ddb1-BKO mice respectively. At 8-12 weeks, BAT in these mice was servely whitened with decreased mitochdiral content. The thermogenic genes were also significantly downregulated at both RNA and protein levels. To further characterize the effect of DDB1 on thermogenesis, we first examined the bdy temperature of the pulps on postnatal day 3, and found that depletion of DDB1 caused a significant decrease in surface temperature.When the adult mice were subjected to cold challenge, both Ddb1-AKO and Ddb1-BKO mice showed dramatically decreased body temperature compared with control mice. At the end of the experiment, Ddb1-AKO and Ddb1-BKO mice had higher contents in BAT triglycerides and lower blood glucose level. Furthermore, the oxygen comsumption in Ddb1-AKO and Ddb1-BKO mice failed to respond to epinephrine injection. . All these results above demonstrated that lacking of DDB1 in brown adipocytes leads to a destruction in thermogenesis of BAT. We have also examined the phenotypes of Ddb1-AKO and Ddb1-BKO mice on high-fat-diet feeding. Compared with control mice, these mice showed decreased body weight, but significantly glucose intolerance and increased triglycierde content in liver, indicating that these mice have partial lipodystrophy. To study whether the effect of DDB1 was dependent on CUL4, we generated adipose tissue-specific Cul4a or CUl4b knockout mice, and found that these mice have no visible defect in BAT morphology compared with control mice, indicating a CUL4-independent function of DDB1. RNA-Seq analysis revealed that DDB1 is required for cold-induced expression of around 900 genes. ChIP-Seq analysis revelaed that these genes were subjected to regulation of promoter-proximally paused RNA polymerase II (Pol II), and that DDB1 is required for the release of paused Pol II upon cold stimulation. Our findings have thus revealed that DDB1 plays an important role in maintaining the theremogenic function of BAT by regulating the expression of thermogenic genes upon cold stimulation. Our studies will shed insights into transcriptional regulation of thermogenic gene
Project description:Lipid droplet (LD) lipolysis in brown adipose tissue (BAT) is generally considered to be required for cold-induced nonshivering thermogenesis. Here, we show that mice lacking BAT Comparative Gene Identification-58 (CGI-58), a lipolytic activator essential for the stimulated LD lipolysis, have normal thermogenic capacity and are not cold sensitive. Relative to littermate controls, these animals had higher body temperatures when they were provided food during cold exposure. The increase in body temperature in the fed, cold-exposed knockout mice was associated with increased energy expenditure and with increased sympathetic innervation and browning of white adipose tissue (WAT). Mice lacking CGI-58 in both BAT and WAT were cold sensitive, but only in the fasted state. Thus, LD lipolysis in BAT is not essential for cold-induced nonshivering thermogenesis in vivo. Rather, CGI-58-dependent LD lipolysis in BAT regulates WAT thermogenesis, and our data uncover an essential role of WAT lipolysis in fueling thermogenesis during fasting.
Project description:Insufficient mitochondrial quantity in brown adipose tissue (BAT) causes defective thermogenesis and positive energy balance, which is coupled with the development of obesity. Whether disturbance of mitochondrial quality affects BAT function remains unknown. Here, we describe that the brown adipocyte-specific Leucine-rich PPR motif-containing protein knockout mice (LrpprcBKO) exhibited mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) proteome imbalance and a complete loss of the -adrenergic-stimulated thermogenesis at room temperature (RT), due to specific reduction of mtDNA-encoded genes. However, the LrpprcBKO mice were lean at normal chow and were protected against high-fat-diet-induced metabolic abnormalities, such as obesity, insulin resistance, adipose inflammation, hepatic steatosis, and hypertriglyceridemia. The beige adipocytes in inguinal white adipose tissue were expanded in LrpprcBKO mice at RT, but not at thermoneutrality. However, BAT thermogenic defects and metabolic benefits were present in LrpprcBKO mice regardless of ambient temperatures. Collectively, our results reveal that a thermogenesis-incapable BAT with mitochondrial ETC proteome imbalance can improve systemic metabolism, suggesting BAT’s contributions to thermoregulation and systemic metabolism can be uncoupled.