LAUSR

Emerging evidence indicates that proper mitochondrial dynamics is critical for adipocyte differentiation and functional thermogenic capacity. We found that mitochondrial fission protein dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1) is highly expressed in brown adipose tissue compared to white adipose tissue and their levels increase during brown adipocyte differentiation. Our results reveal that the inhibition of DRP1 using Mdivi-1 mitigates beige adipocyte differentiation and differentiation-associated mitochondrial biogenesis. We found that DRP1 is essential for the induction of the early phase beige adipogenic transcriptional program. Intriguingly, inhibition of DRP1 is dispensable following the induction of beige adipogenesis and adipogenesis-associated mitochondrial biogenesis. Together, we demonstrate that DRP1 in the preadipocytes plays an essential role in beige and brown adipogenesis.