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Brown and beige adipocytes are thermogenic adipocytes that dissipate energy as heat through uncoupled mitochondrial respiration mediated by uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1). When the organism experiences cold exposure, brown and beige adipocytes can be activated in response to β-adrenergic stimulation, classically through PKA-CREB cascade and upregulate UCP1 expression.
Recent work from our lab has revealed that, in addition to this canonical signaling pathway, β-adrenergic stimulation induces actomyosin-driven intracellular tension in both brown and beige adipocytes. This mechanically regulated response is not only correlative but also required for full thermogenic activation. Notably, further mechanistic search uncovered distinct downstream pathways by which these two types of thermogenic adipocytes sense and transduce actomyosin-mediated tension: while brown adipocytes primarily signal through the YAP/TAZ axis, beige adipocytes’ response to β-adrenergic driven tension changes depends on focal adhesion kinase (FAK) activity.
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