Fat cells reprogrammed to increase fat burning

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 have uncovered the mechanism by which white fat cells from humans get reprogrammed to become browner. By identifying the areas of the genome that are directly involved in the reprogramming, they 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. The discovery of the “brite” fat cell mechanisms and the specific regulatory areas brings it closer to understanding how reprogramming of white fat cells takes place. This knowledge potentially means, that in the future researchers can target drugs to activate the genomic regions and browning factors like KLF11 in the treatment of obesity.