BMPER: a novel adipose progenitor marker and adipogenic modulator

We used single cell sequencing to identify sex and diet-specific differences in visceral adipose progenitor cells (APCs) and to discover new APC markers and adipogenic modulators. We identified the major clusters that were previously identified by other studies both in humans and mice with the notable difference being in the mesothelial cluster, which was more abundant in humans than mice. We found that diet/obesity resulted in minor differences in the proportions of major clusters in humans but increased immune cells in male mice with high fat feeding. Most importantly, we identified BMPER as a novel marker of APCs both in humans and mice and revealed its pro-adipogenic property. Overall design: Single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was performed on stromal vascular cells isolated by collagenase digestion from omental fat of 4 male and 5 female patients who underwent either a laparoscopic abdominal surgery or a bariatric surgery. scRNA-seq was also performed in stromal vascular cells isolated by collagenase digestion from gonadal fat from male and female mice (10 mice pooled/diet/sex) fed normal chow diet (NCD) or high fat diet (HFD) for 8 weeks.