234-LB: Role of P311 in Adipocyte Plasticity and Metabolic Regulation

The prevalence of obesity in the United States and worldwide has increased dramatically over the past 20 years. Currently it is affecting about 40% of adults and more alarmingly about 20% of children in the US. Obesity is a major risk factor and comorbid condition for chronic metabolic conditions like insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemia etcetera. Hence, the increase in the incidence of obesity and the metabolic dysregulation-associated morbidity and mortality and rising costs of treatments warrants a deeper understanding of all aspects of adipocyte biology to develop novel therapeutics to thwart this pandemic. Recent research developments identified three different types of adipose tissues, white adipose tissue (WAT) , beige adipose tissue and brown adipose tissue, increasing the complexity of adipose biology and adipocyte plasticity in metabolic regulation. P311 is a small intrinsically unstructured protein that shows adipogenic properties. We show for the first time that P311 is expressed in white, beige and brown adipose tissue and young P311 knockout mice show increased WAT and/or decreased beige AT implicating that P311 plays a key role in adipocyte plasticity and regulating quality and quantity of the AT. Further, aged P311 KOs are significantly obese with hyperglycemia and deranged glucose tolerance. Our findings are the first to show the role of P311 in adipose biology, adipocyte plasticity and metabolic regulation.