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: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)