Direct cell conversion from human dermal fibroblast to adipocyte

To investigate the effect of ZNF395 on adipogenesis, we tested whether ZNF395 enhance cell conversion from human dermal Fibroblast (FIB) to Adipocyte (ADP). PPARG2 was reported as a master regulator and can induce adipogenesis in non-adipogenic fibroblasts. We transduced PPARG2 with or without ZNF395 in FIB with lentivirus. Interestingly, co-transduction of PPARG2 and ZNF395 showed higher occurrence of adipocyte-like cells as compared with PPARG2 alone. Moreover, genes related with lipid metabolic process and lipid transport was significantly up-regulated in combination of PPARG2 and ZNF395. These results suggest that ZNF395 co-ordinate the transcriptional regulatory pathway with PPARG2, necessary for the induction of adipogenesis. Total RNA was obteined from human dermal fibroblast transduced with mock lentivirus vector (FIB_ctrl), PPARG2 (FIB_PPARG2) and co-transduced with PPARG2 and ZNF395 (FIB_PPARG2+ZNF395).