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This Article Full Text Free Full Text (PDF) Free Supplemental Data All Versions of this Article: fj.08-108266v1 22/11/3925    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Nikonova, L. Articles by Kozak, L. P. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Nikonova, L. Articles by Kozak, L. P.

Mesoderm-specific transcript is associated with fat mass expansion in response to a positive energy balance

Larissa Nikonova^*, Robert A. Koza^*, Tamra Mendoza^*, Pei-Min Chao^*, James P. Curley and Leslie P. Kozak^*,1

^* Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; and

Darwin College, University of Cambridge, Madingley, UK

¹Correspondence: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 6400 Perkins Rd., Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA. E-mail: kozaklp{at}pbrc.edu

A 50-fold variation in mRNA and protein levels of the mesoderm-specific transcript gene (Mest) in white fat of C57BL/6J (B6) mice fed an obesogenic diet is positively correlated with expansion of fat mass. MEST protein was detected only in adipocytes, in which its induction occurred with both unsaturated and saturated dietary fat. To test the hypothesis that MEST modulates fat mass expansion, its expression was compared to that of stearoyl CoA desaturase (Scd1) in B6 mice exposed to diets and environmental temperatures that generated conditions separating the effects of food intake and adiposity. Under a range of conditions, Mest expression was always associated with variations in adiposity, whereas Scd1 expression was associated with the amount of saturated fat in the diet. Mest mRNA was expressed at its highest levels during early postnatal growth at the onset of the most rapid phase of fat mass expansion. MEST is localized to the endoplasmic reticulum/Golgi apparatus where its putative enzymatic properties as a lipase or acyltransferase, predicted from sequence homology with members of the /β fold hydrolase superfamily, can enable it to function in lipid accumulation under conditions of positive energy balance. Variations in adiposity and Mest expression in genetically identical mice also provides a model of epigenetic regulation.—Nikonova, L., Koza, R. A., Mendoza, T., Chao, P.-M., Curley, J. P., Kozak, L. P. Mesoderm-specific transcript is associated with fat mass expansion in response to a positive energy balance.

Key Words: nutritional programming • epigenetics • /β fold hydrolase • imprinted genes • obesity