Brown fat in a protoendothermic mammal fuels eutherian evolution

Rebecca Oelkrug, Nadja Goetze, Cornelia Exner, Yang Lee, Goutham K. Ganjam, Maria Kutschke, Saskia Müller, Sigrid Stöhr, Matthias H. Tschöp, Paul G. Crichton, Gerhard Heldmaier, Martin Jastroch () and Carola W. Meyer
Additional contact information
Rebecca Oelkrug: Faculty of Biology, Philipps-Universität, Karl-von-Frisch Strasse 8
Nadja Goetze: Faculty of Biology, Philipps-Universität, Karl-von-Frisch Strasse 8
Cornelia Exner: Faculty of Biology, Philipps-Universität, Karl-von-Frisch Strasse 8
Yang Lee: Mitochondrial Biology Unit, Medical Research Council
Goutham K. Ganjam: Faculty of Biology, Philipps-Universität, Karl-von-Frisch Strasse 8
Maria Kutschke: Institute for Diabetes and Obesity, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Parkring 13, 85748 Munich-Garching, Germany
Saskia Müller: Institute for Diabetes and Obesity, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Parkring 13, 85748 Munich-Garching, Germany
Sigrid Stöhr: Faculty of Biology, Philipps-Universität, Karl-von-Frisch Strasse 8
Matthias H. Tschöp: Institute for Diabetes and Obesity, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Parkring 13, 85748 Munich-Garching, Germany
Paul G. Crichton: Mitochondrial Biology Unit, Medical Research Council
Gerhard Heldmaier: Faculty of Biology, Philipps-Universität, Karl-von-Frisch Strasse 8
Martin Jastroch: Institute for Diabetes and Obesity, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Parkring 13, 85748 Munich-Garching, Germany
Carola W. Meyer: Faculty of Biology, Philipps-Universität, Karl-von-Frisch Strasse 8

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Endothermy has facilitated mammalian species radiation, but the sequence of events leading to sustained thermogenesis is debated in multiple evolutionary models. Here we study the Lesser hedgehog tenrec (Echinops telfairi), a phylogenetically ancient, ‘protoendothermic’ eutherian mammal, in which constantly high body temperatures are reported only during reproduction. Evidence for nonshivering thermogenesis is found in vivo during periodic ectothermic–endothermic transitions. Anatomical studies reveal large brown fat-like structures in the proximity of the reproductive organs, suggesting physiological significance for parental care. Biochemical analysis demonstrates high mitochondrial proton leak catalysed by an uncoupling protein 1 ortholog. Strikingly, bioenergetic profiling of tenrec uncoupling protein 1 reveals similar thermogenic potency as modern mouse uncoupling protein 1, despite the large phylogenetic distance. The discovery of functional brown adipose tissue in this ‘protoendothermic’ mammal links nonshivering thermogenesis directly to the roots of eutherian evolution, suggesting physiological importance prior to sustained body temperatures and migration to the cold.

Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3140 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms3140

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3140

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().