Transcriptional regulation analysis of FAM3A gene and its effect on adipocyte differentiation

FAM3A (family with sequence similarity 3, member A) is regulated by PPARG and participates in the metabolism of lipid in liver. However, the transcriptional regulation analysis of FAM3A is very little and biological function of FAM3A still unclear. In this study, the core promoter region and transcription factor binding sites of FAM3A gene were identified and characterized using dual luciferase report experiments and electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA). The promoter activity of FAM3A was dramatically decreased after the mutation of C/EBP beta binding sites, suggesting that C/EBP beta is a transcriptional activator of FAM3A. Overexpression of FAM3A significantly inhibited the efficiency of preadipocytes to differentiate into adipocytes as indicated by Western Blot and Oil Red 0 staining assay. These results suggest that C/EBP beta plays an important role in regulating FAM3A promoter activity and FAM3A inhibits adipocyte differentiation. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.