AUTHOR=Sun Longfei , Zhang Dandan , Qin Liangshan , Liu Quanhui , Wang Guodong , Shi Deshun , Huang Ben 

TITLE=Rapid direct conversion of bovine non-adipogenic fibroblasts into adipocyte-like cells by a small-molecule cocktail

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2023.1020965

DOI=10.3389/fcell.2023.1020965

ISSN=2296-634X

ABSTRACT=The molecular regulation mechanism of fat deposition in bovine and its improvement on beef quality are important research directions in the livestock industry. Direct conversion of non-adipogenic bovine fibroblasts into functional adipocytes by transdifferentiation techniques can be used for research adipocyte deposition of bovine. Here we describe a rapid strategy for transdifferentiation of bovine ear fibroblasts(BEFs) into adipocyte-like cells by using a small-molecule cocktail (10μM RepSox, 500ug/mL VPA, 1μM TTNPB). In this study, the chemically-induced adipocytes (CiADCs) could be identified as early as day 6. The CiADCs appeared to be circular and rich of lipid droplets. Adipocyte-specific genes were significantly expressed in CiADCs. In addition, we also found that the signaling pathways (PPAR signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, p53 signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway and ECM-receptor interaction) regulated by the DEGs played a vital role in adipogenesis. We further observed that the signaling pathways regulating of adipogenic differentiation had been turned on after 3 days of induction by Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). These findings may offer a new insight to increasing the amounts of adipocytes in the beef to improve the meat quality and underlines the key signaling pathways that are needed to induce adipocyte.