Abstract

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) has gained its popularity since it shows great potential in counteracting obesity and metabolic diseases development. Transcribed ultraconserved regions (T-UCRs), a novel class of long non-coding RNA (lncRNAs), have been implicated in regulating diverse biological processes, including the process of white fat browning. However, the functional and mechanistic details of T-UCRs in the browning process are poorly understood. Here, we identified that a T-UCR, uc.336-as, played an important role during the browning process. uc.336-as was significantly elevated during browning process induced by exendin-4 or β3-adrenergic agonist (CL316,243). Moreover, we found that uc.336-as promoted browning process and inhibited adipogenesis. Finally, we identified that uc.336-as promoted the expression of browning-related genes via influencing the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) signaling, an essential signal pathway in metabolism. Taken together, our data show that uc.336-as acts as a negative regulator in white adipocyte differentiation and promotes the browning process, suggesting a potential therapeutic role for uc.336-as in controlling obesity.

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