Project description:We performed ChIP-seq to chart genome-wide maps of H3K27me3 in brown preadipocytes and mature brown adipocytes. We observed a subset of brown fat-specific genes, but not common fat genes or white fat-specific genes, possess the H3K27me3 mark in preadipocytes, and this mark is erased in mature adipocytes. H3K27me3 ChIP-seq in brown preadipocytes and mature adipocytes.
Project description:Brown adipose tissue (BAT) has in recent times been rediscovered in adult humans, and together with work from preclinical models, shown to have the potential of providing a variety of positive metabolic benefits. These include improved insulin sensitivity and reduced susceptibility to obesity and its various co-morbidities. As such, its continued study could offer insights to therapeutically modulate this tissue to improve metabolic health. It has been reported that adipose-specific deletion of the gene for protein kinase D1 (Prkd1) enhances mitochondrial respiration and improves whole-body glucose homeostasis. We sought to determine whether these effects were mediated specifically through brown adipocytes using a Prkd1 brown adipose tissue (BAT) Ucp1-Cre-specific knockout mouse model, Prkd1BKO. We unexpectedly observed that upon both cold exposure and beta-3-AR agonist administration, Prkd1 loss in BAT did not alter canonical thermogenic gene expression or adipocyte morphology. We took an unbiased approach to assess whether other signaling pathways were altered. RNAs from cold-exposed control and Prkd1BKO were subjected to RNA-Seq analysis. These studies revealed that myogenic gene expression is altered in Prkd1BKO BAT after both acute (8 hr) and extended (4 day) cold exposure. Given that brown adipocytes and skeletal myocytes share a common precursor cell lineage expressing myogenic factor 5 (Myf5), these data suggest that loss of Prkd1 in BAT may alter the biology of preadipocytes in this depot. The data presented herein clarify the role of Prkd1 in BAT thermogenesis and present new avenues for the further study of Prkd1 function in BAT.
Project description:The experiment was designed to determine the gene expression changes cultured brown adipocytes in response to the inflammatory stimulus of LPS treatment. Both wild type and TLR4 knockout cells were applied to enable assessment of the contribution of TLR4 to the response.
Project description:By screening a collection of epigenetic compounds, we find that Lysine-Specific Demethylase 1 (LSD1) inhibitors repress brown adipocyte differentiation. RNAi-mediated Lsd1 knockdown shows similar effect, which can be rescued by expression of wild-type, but not catalytically inactive, LSD1. Furthermore, adenoviral Cre-mediated LSD1 deletion in mice leads to inhibition of brown adipogenesis, validating the pivotal role of LSD1 in brown fat development in vivo. LSD1 is a histone H3 demethylase, which selectively removes methyl groups from mono- and di-methylated lysine 4 (H3K4me1 and H3K4me2) under most circumstances, and only from lysine 9 (H3K9me1/2) when bound with androgen receptor (AR) or estrogen receptor (ER). K4 demethylation causes transcription repression, while K9 demethylation may lead to activation of gene transcription. To investigate the target genes of LSD1 during BAT differentiaiton, we performed RNA-seq to profile the gene expression in brown adipocytes treated with DMSO or LSD1 inhibitor 611 (Cpd A) for 6 days, and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was then employed to identify Gene Ontology (GO) terms that were significantly enriched.
Project description:Histones were isolated from brown adipose tissue and liver from mice housed at 28, 22, or 8 C. Quantitative top- or middle-down approaches were used to quantitate histone H4 and H3.2 proteoforms. See published article for complimentary RNA-seq and RRBS datasets.
Project description:We performed ChIP-seq to chart genome-wide maps of H3K27me3 in brown preadipocytes and mature brown adipocytes. We observed a subset of brown fat-specific genes, but not common fat genes or white fat-specific genes, possess the H3K27me3 mark in preadipocytes, and this mark is erased in mature adipocytes.
Project description:Introgressed variants from other species can be an important source of genetic variation because they may arise rapidly, can include multiple mutations on a single haplotype, and have often been pretested by selection in the species of origin. Although introgressed alleles are generally deleterious, several studies have reported introgression as the source of adaptive alleles-including the rodenticide-resistant variant of Vkorc1 that introgressed from Mus spretus into European populations of Mus musculus domesticus. Here, we conducted bidirectional genome scans to characterize introgressed regions into one wild population of M. spretus from Spain and three wild populations of M. m. domesticus from France, Germany, and Iran. Despite the fact that these species show considerable intrinsic postzygotic reproductive isolation, introgression was observed in all individuals, including in the M. musculus reference genome (GRCm38). Mus spretus individuals had a greater proportion of introgression compared with M. m. domesticus, and within M. m. domesticus, the proportion of introgression decreased with geographic distance from the area of sympatry. Introgression was observed on all autosomes for both species, but not on the X-chromosome in M. m. domesticus, consistent with known X-linked hybrid sterility and inviability genes that have been mapped to the M. spretus X-chromosome. Tract lengths were generally short with a few outliers of up to 2.7 Mb. Interestingly, the longest introgressed tracts were in olfactory receptor regions, and introgressed tracts were significantly enriched for olfactory receptor genes in both species, suggesting that introgression may be a source of functional novelty even between species with high barriers to gene flow.
Project description:Brown adipose tissue (BAT) dissipates chemical energy in the form of heat, as a defense against hypothermia and obesity. Current evidence indicates that brown adipocytes arise from Myf5+-dermotomal precursors through the action of a PRDM16-C/EBP-_ transcriptional complex; however, the underlying mechanisms that determine lineage specification and maintenance of brown adipose cells remain poorly understood. Here we study the role of euchromatic histone-lysine N-methyltransferase 1 (EHMT1), a brown fat-enriched lysine methyltransferase, as an essential enzymatic component of the PRDM16 transcriptional complex and controls brown adipose cell fate. To identify targets and function of EHMT1, we performed genome-wide gene expression profiling of BAT from control mouce (Ehmt1flox/flox), Ehmt1Myf5 KO mouse (Myf5-Cre+/-; Ehmt1flox/flox) and Ehmt1adipo KO mouse (Adipo-Cre+/-; Ehmt1flox/flox). Loss of EHMT1 in Myf5+ lineage causes a near total loss of brown fat characteristics and induces muscle-selective gene program in vivo. In addition, adipose-specific deletion of EHMT1 by Adipo-Cre leads to a marked reduction of the thermogenic and fat oxidation genes.