Transcriptome comparison of white adipose tissue between control and adipose specific HuR knockout mice

Human antigen R (HuR) is a member of the Hu family of RNA-binding proteins and is involved in many physiological processes. To investigate the role of adipose HuR, we generate adipose-specific HuR knockout (HuRAKO) mice. As compared with control mice, HuRAKO mice show obesity when induced with a high-fat diet, along with insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, hypercholesterolemia and increased inflammation in adipose tissue. The obesity of HuRAKO mice is attributed to adipocyte hypertrophy in white adipose tissue due to decreased expression of adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL), a critical lipase involved in lipolysis. HuR positively regulates ATGL expression by promoting the mRNA stability and translation of ATGL. Consistently, the expression of HuR in adipose tissue is reduced in obese humans, which is associated with reduced ATGL expression. This study suggests that adipose HuR may be a critical regulator of ATGL expression and lipolysis and thereby controls obesity and metabolic syndrome. Adipose tissue mRNA profiles of control and adipose specific HuR knockout mice after 16 weeks high-fat diet feeding were generated by deep sequencing,in triplicate, using Illumina HiSeq 4000.