Lanna Lewis
Pronouns: She/her
Research Mentor(s): Hiroyuki Mori
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology / Medicine
Program:
Authors: Lanna Lewis, Hiroyuki Mori, Ormond MacDougald
Session: Session 6: 3:40 pm – 4:30 pm
Poster: 33
Abstract
Little is known about adipocyte adaptations in temperatures under 37°C . The parts of the body where the tissue temperatures exhibit predominantly 37 °C are considered the body core. In contrast, in the limbs and skin (collectively referred to as the ‘body shell’), the mean tissue temperature can vary extensively. The tissue temperature of the body shell decreases with increasing distance from the body core. We are studying the mechanisms of how adipocytes adapt to cool temperatures. The temperatures in the body core and body shell, we cultured adipocytes at 37°C and 31°C, respectively. Twelve days of cool temperature exposure induced 1,872 genes and suppressed 2,511 genes. Two RNA binding proteins increased under the cold temperatures: Cold-inducible RNA-binding protein (CIRP) and RNA binding motif protein 3 (RBM3). Considering the function of RNA binding proteins, we hypothesize that the function of these two could be part of the reason why genes were upregulated and downregulated under cool temperature conditions. For each gene, we induced a loss of function mutation in their cells using the CRISPR-Cas9 system to test our hypothesis that these two genes may play an important role in regulation in cold temperatures. We have submitted these RNA sequences and they are currently under analysis. This is an ongoing study, so we are still obtaining results.
