Comparative transcriptomic analysis of rabbit interscapular brown adipose tissue whitening under physiological conditions
Lei Li,
Qian Wan,
Qiaoyun Long,
Tao Nie,
Shiting Zhao,
Liufeng Mao,
Chuanli Cheng,
Chao Zou,
Kerry Loomes,
Aimin Xu,
Liangxue Lai,
Xin Liu,
Ziyuan Duan,
Xiaoyan Hui,
Donghai Wu
Affiliations
Lei Li
Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
Qian Wan
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Qiaoyun Long
School of Biomedical Sciences, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR
Tao Nie
Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
Shiting Zhao
Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
Liufeng Mao
Clinical Department of Guangdong Metabolic Disease Research Center of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China
Chuanli Cheng
Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
Chao Zou
Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
Kerry Loomes
School of Biological Sciences and Maurice Wilkins Centre, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Aimin Xu
Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR
Liangxue Lai
Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
Xin Liu
Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
Ziyuan Duan
Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
Xiaoyan Hui
School of Biomedical Sciences, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR
Donghai Wu
Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
Interscapular brown adipose tissue (iBAT) of both rabbits and humans exhibits a similar whitening phenomenon under physiological conditions. However, a detailed characterization of iBAT whitening in them is still lacking. Here, we chose rabbits as a model to gain a better understanding of the molecular signature changes during the whitening process of iBAT by transcriptomic analysis of rabbit iBAT at day 1, day 14, 1 month and 4 months after birth. We applied non-invasive MRI imaging to monitor the whitening process and correlated these changes with analysis of morphological, histological and molecular features. Principal component analysis (PCA) of differentially expressed genes delineated three major phases for the whitening process as Brown, Transition and Whitened BAT phases. RNA-sequencing data revealed that whitening of iBAT was an orchestrated process where multiple types of cells and tissues participated in a variety of physiological processes including neovascularization, formation of new nervous networks and immune regulation. Several key metabolic and signalling pathways contributed to whitening of iBAT, and immune cells and immune regulation appeared to play an overarching role.
