Abstract

Specialized adipocytes localized in distinct depots mediate the many physiological functions of adipose tissue. In humans, paucity of thermogenic adipocytes correlates with high metabolic disease risk, raising much interest in the mechanisms by which these cells arise. Here we report molecular signatures associated with adipocyte development in different human depots and identify a long non-coding RNA, LINC00473, as the transcript most closely associated with enrichment of thermogenic adipocytes. LINC00473 expression is low in subjects with obesity or type-2 diabetes and is highly correlated with cAMP signaling and mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation pathways. LINC00473 is localized in the nucleus and the cytoplasm, and its knockdown impairs induction of UCP1 and mitochondrial respiration. These results reveal that depot-enriched genes that modulate responsiveness to external stimuli, specifically LINC00473, are important determinants of the adipose tissue thermogenic phenotype, and potential targets for metabolic disease therapy.