PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Fat cells reprogrammed to increase fat burning

Fat cells reprogrammed to increase fat burning
2014-12-13
(Press-News.org) White adipose tissue stores excess calories as fat that can be released for use in other organs during fasting. Mammals also have small amounts of brown adipose tissue, which primarily acts as an effective fat burner for the production of heat. Now researchers from the University of Southern Denmark have uncovered the mechanism by which white fat cells from humans gets reprogrammed to become browner.

Browning of white adipose tissue increases the energy consumption of the body and therefore constitutes a potential strategy for future treatment of obesity. The challenge is to reprogram the energy storing white fat cells into so-called "brite" (brown-in-white) fat cells in the body's white adipose tissue and thus make adipose tissue burn off excess energy as heat instead of storing it.

The research team from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology headed by Professor Susanne Mandrup are publishing a paper entitled "Browning of human adipocytes requires KLF11 and reprogramming of PPAR super-enhancers" in the January 1 edition of the scientific journal "Genes & Development" that describes their results from working with "brite" fat cells.

"We have investigated how the genome of white adipocytes is reprogrammed during browning using advanced genome sequencing technologies. We stimulated browning in human white adipocytes by a drug used to treat type II diabetes and compared white and "brite" fat cells. This showed that "brite" fat cells have distinct gene programs which, when active, make these cells particularly energy-consuming," says Susanne Mandrup and continues.

"By identifying the areas of the genome that are directly involved in the reprogramming, we have also identified an important factor in the process - the gene regulatory protein KLF11 (Kruppel Like Factor-11), which is found in all fat cells, and we have shown that it is required for the reprogramming to take place."

One of the absolute main forces behind the project and first author of the paper is PhD student Anne Loft, who is very pleased with the results.

"It has been a long process, and it has taken us four years to get where we are now, so it's obviously very satisfying when the results are so interesting and useful, as is the case here," says Anne Loft and points to the future prospects of the research on "brite" fat cells.

"The discovery of the "brite" fat cell mechanisms and the specific regulatory areas brings us closer to understanding how reprogramming of white fat cells takes place. This knowledge potentially means, that in the future we can target drugs to activate the genomic regions and browning factors like KLF11 in the treatment of obesity," says Anne Loft.

INFORMATION:

"Browning of human adipocytes requires KLF11 and reprogramming of PPAR super-enhancers", "Genes and Development" , 1 January 2015; Vol. 29, No. 1

Authors
Anne Loft1, Isabel Forss1*, Majken Storm Siersbæk1*, Søren Fisker Schmidt1, Ann-Sofie Bøgh Larsen1, Jesper Grud Skat Madsen1,5, Didier Pisani4, Ronni Nielsen1, Mads Malik Aagaard1, Angela Mathison2, Matt J. Neville3, Raul Urrutia2, Fredrik Karpe3, Ez-Zoubir Amri4, Susanne Mandrup1#
* These authors contributed equally

Affiliations
1 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense M, Denmark
2 Laboratory of Epigenetics and Chromatin Dynamics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA
3 National Institute for Health Research, Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford, UK
4 Univ. Nice Sophia Antipolis, iBV, CNRS UMR 7277, INSERM U1091, 06100 Nice, France
5 NNF Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen, DK-2200 Copenhagen, Denmark

Contact
Professor Susanne Mandrup,
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
University of Southern Denmark,
5230 Odense M, Denmark
Phone: +45 6550 2340
E-mail: s.mandrup@bmb.sdu.dk


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Fat cells reprogrammed to increase fat burning

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Immune cells in brain respond to fat in diet, causing mice to eat

2014-12-13
Immune cells perform a previously unsuspected role in the brain that may contribute to obesity, according to a new study by UC San Francisco researchers. When the researchers fed mice a diet high in saturated milk fats, microglia, a type of immune cell, underwent a population explosion in the brain region called the hypothalamus, which is responsible for feeding behavior. The researchers used an experimental drug and, alternatively, a genetic approach to knock out these microglia, and both strategies resulted in a complete loss of microglia-driven inflammation in the ...

New TGen test uses the unique genetics of women to uncover neurologic disorders

2014-12-12
PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Dec. 12, 2014 -- Using a basic genetic difference between men and women, the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) has uncovered a way to track down the source of a neurological disorder in a young girl. TGen's discovery relies on a simple genetic fact: Men have one X and one Y chromosome, while women have two X chromosomes. This women-only factor was leveraged by TGen investigators to develop a highly accurate method of tracking down a previously unrecognized disorder of the X-chromosome. The study of a pre-teen girl, who went years ...

Disney Research builds computer models to analyze play in pro basketball and soccer

2014-12-12
With the ball at the three-point line near the top of the key, what will Tim Duncan of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs do? Pass to a player posting up? Or does he take a shot? An analysis by Disney Research of player tracking data, however, suggests the highest probability is a pass to guard Tony Parker on his left. It's just one play, by one player, in one sport - and perhaps not that hard for the average courtside observer to anticipate - but with the field of sports becoming more driven by sports analytics, predicting the next thing that a player will do has become a major ...

Expected stay rates of US and foreign doctoral graduates diverge with time

2014-12-12
A new National Science Foundation (NSF) report reveals the number of U.S. citizen doctoral graduates in science, engineering and health fields, who remain in the United States, tracks closely with their intent to stay in the United States at the time of graduation. However, there are noticeable differences for doctoral graduates who were temporary visa holders at the time of graduation. According to the report, 96.4 percent of U.S. citizen doctoral graduates from academic years 2001-09 reported their intent to live in the United States, a measure referred to as the expected ...

All children should have vision health screening between age 3 and 6, expert panel recommends

2014-12-12
December 12, 2014 - All children should undergo vision health screening between age 36 and 72 months--preferably every year--using evidence-based test methods and with effective referral and follow-up, according to recommendations published in the January issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. The National Expert Panel to The National Center for Children's Vision Health makes recommendations for vision health screening in ...

New theory suggests alternate path led to rise of the eukaryotic cell

2014-12-12
MADISON, Wis. - As a fundamental unit of life, the cell is central to all of biology. Better understanding how complex cells evolved and work promises new revelations in areas as diverse as cancer research and developing new crop plants. But deep thinking on how the eukaryotic cell came to be is astonishingly scant. Now, however, a bold new idea of how the eukaryotic cell and, by extension, all complex life came to be is giving scientists an opportunity to re-examine some of biology's key dogma. All complex life -- including plants, animals and fungi -- is made up of ...

'Big bang' of bird evolution mapped by international research team

Big bang of bird evolution mapped by international research team
2014-12-12
The genomes of modern birds tell a story: Today's winged rulers of the skies emerged and evolved after the mass extinction that wiped out dinosaurs and almost everything else 66 million years ago. That story is now coming to light, thanks to an international collaboration that has been underway for four years. The first findings of the Avian Phylogenomics Consortium are being reported nearly simultaneously in 23 papers--eight papers in a special issue this week of Science, and 15 more in Genome Biology, GigaScience and other journals. The results are funded in part ...

Earth's most abundant mineral finally has a name

2014-12-12
An ancient meteorite and high-energy X-rays have helped scientists conclude a half century of effort to find, identify and characterize a mineral that makes up 38 percent of the Earth. And in doing so, a team of scientists led by Oliver Tschauner, a mineralogist at the University of Las Vegas, clarified the definition of the Earth's most abundant mineral - a high-density form of magnesium iron silicate, now called Bridgmanite - and defined estimated constraint ranges for its formation. Their research was performed at the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy ...

Inaugural survey of American attitudes about the environment released by Yale & AP-NORC

2014-12-12
Chicago, IL, and New Haven, CT, December 12, 2014 - The Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research today released the first set of findings from its inaugural environment poll. The poll surveys a nationally representative sample of American adults and provides a portrait of what the public thinks and feels about environmental issues, and what actions they are taking as consumers. Findings from the first report indicate that most Americans say the United States ought to take a leadership role in combating ...

Satellite shows return of the Pineapple Express

Satellite shows return of the Pineapple Express
2014-12-12
VIDEO: A wide-field movie by GOES-WEST of the North Pacific from Dec. 9-12, 2014 reveals the violent rain storms pouring moisture on the "Pineapple Express " jet stream into California in mid-December.... Click here for more information. The ''Pineapple Express'' happens when warm air and lots of moisture are transported from the Central Pacific, near Hawaii, to the Eastern Pacific Ocean. An animation of satellite imagery from NOAA's GOES-West satellite showed the stream of ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Older teens who start vaping post-high school risk rapid progress to frequent use

Corpse flowers are threatened by spotty recordkeeping

Riding the AI wave toward rapid, precise ocean simulations

Are lifetimes of big appliances really shrinking?

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

[Press-News.org] Fat cells reprogrammed to increase fat burning