Brown fat has a tremendous capacity to oxidize fatty acids and generate heat, owing to the presence of an 'uncoupling protein', UCP1. The fatty acids themselves are understood to activate UCP1, but Chouchani et al. now propose that oxidation of a critical cysteine residue on UCP1 is additionally required to sensitize the protein to fatty acids.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$189.00 per year
only $15.75 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Ravussin, E. & Galgani, J.E. Annu. Rev. Nutr. 31, 33–47 (2011).
Nicholls, D.G. & Locke, R.M. Physiol. Rev. 64, 1–64 (1984).
Cannon, B. & Nedergaard, J. Physiol. Rev. 84, 277–359 (2004).
Chouchani, E.T. et al. Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature17399 (2016).
Coulter, C.V., Kelso, G.F., Lin, T.K., Smith, R.A.J. & Murphy, M.P. Free Radic. Biol. Med. 28, 1547–1554 (2000).
Paulsen, C.E. & Carroll, K.S. ACS Chem. Biol. 5, 47–62 (2010).
Murphy, M.P. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 16, 476–495 (2012).
Palmieri, F. Mol. Aspects Med. 34, 465–484 (2013).
Arechaga, I., Ledesma, A. & Rial, E. IUBMB Life 52, 165–173 (2001).
Klingenberg, M. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1778, 1978–2021 (2008).
Shabalina, I.G. et al. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1837, 2017–2030 (2014).
Himms-Hagen, J. Adv. Enzyme Regul. 8, 131–151 (1970).
McStay, G.P., Clarke, S.J. & Halestrap, A.P. Biochem. J. 367, 541–548 (2002).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nicholls, D., Rial, E. A novel regulatory mechanism for the brown-fat uncoupling protein?. Nat Struct Mol Biol 23, 364–365 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.3221
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.3221