Peroxisomes identified as alternative heat producers in brown fat

Peroxisomes identified as alternative heat producers in brown fat

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a novel way brown fat - an energy-burning form of fat - can rev the body's metabolic engine, consuming cellular fuel and producing heat in a way that improves metabolic health.

A surprising way to make heat in an unexpected part of fat cells

Organelles called peroxisomes have been found to have a role in heat generation in fat tissue, and use a mechanism independent of the known heat-producing protein UCP1. The process involves the synthesis and degradation of monomethyl branched-chain fatty acids, driven by the lipid-synthesizing enzyme FASN and the peroxisomal enzyme ACOX2. Heat is generated by a lipid synthesis and degradation cycle in organelles called peroxisomes.