title: Ebf2 is a selective marker of brown and beige adipogenic precursor cells.
abstract: Brown adipocytes and muscle and dorsal dermis descend from precursor cells in the dermomyotome, but the factors that regulate commitment to the brown adipose lineage are unknown. Here, we prospectively isolated and determined the molecular profile of embryonic brown preadipose cells. Brown adipogenic precursor activity in embryos was confined to platelet-derived growth factor α(+), myogenic factor 5(Cre)-lineage-marked cells. RNA-sequence analysis identified early B-cell factor 2 (Ebf2) as one of the most selectively expressed genes in this cell fraction. Importantly, Ebf2-expressing cells purified from Ebf2(GFP) embryos or brown fat tissue did not express myoblast or dermal cell markers and uniformly differentiated into brown adipocytes. Interestingly, Ebf2-expressing cells from white fat tissue in adult animals differentiated into brown-like (or beige) adipocytes. Loss of Ebf2 in brown preadipose cells reduced the expression levels of brown preadipose-signature genes, whereas ectopic Ebf2 expression in myoblasts activated brown preadipose-specific genes. Altogether, these results indicate that Ebf2 specifically marks and regulates the molecular profile of brown preadipose cells.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, Metabolism, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, and.
authors.forename: Wenshan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, Metabolism, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, and.
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kissig
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, Metabolism, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, and.
authors.forename: Sona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rajakumari
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, Metabolism, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, and.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, Metabolism, Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
authors.forename: Hee-Woong
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, Metabolism, Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
authors.forename: Kyoung-Jae
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Won
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, Metabolism, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, and sealep@upenn.edu.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Seale
mesh_terms: D017667:Adipocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D050156:Adipogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism*; D002001:Adipose Tissue, Brown / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism*; D052436:Adipose Tissue, White / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000235:genetics; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D057507:Mice, 129 Strain; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D051787:Myogenic Regulatory Factor 5 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D015415:Biomarkers; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D051787:Myogenic Regulatory Factor 5; C489922:Ebf2 protein, mouse
keywords: beige adipocyte; brown adipose tissue