A BAFF/APRIL axis regulates obesogenic-diet driven weight gain

Purpose: To define the role of the BAFF/APRIL axis in the regulation of adipose tissue homeostasis through RNAseq. Methods: Primary adipocytes were derived from pre-adipocyte precursors of inguinal white adipose from male C57BL/6 mice aged 6-8 weeks. Adipocytes were treated with rBAFF, rAPRIL, or multiple controls for 24 hours. mRNA profiles were generated for each condition, run in biological duplicates, using Illumina HiSeq2000 with single-end, 50bp reads. Differential gene lists were generated by comparing BAFF and APRIL to controls using unpaired ttests. Results:Following mapping an average of 30million reads across 10 samples to the mm10 mouse genome with annotations from UCSC, differential analysis identified genes involved in adipocyte pathways associated with lipid metabolism, lipolysis, and inflammation. Conclusion: BAFF and APRIL modulate modulate white adipocyte lipid handling. Overall design: mRNA was obtained from inguinal adipose tissue obtained from male C57Bl/6 mice aged 6-8 weeks, following 24-hour treatment with rBAFF, rAPRIL, or multiple controls.