Little is known about the factors involved in the brown adipocyte gene regulatory program. In
contrast to the white adipocyte, the brown adipocyte is characterized by abundant
mitochondria and high level expression of mitochondrial fatty acid β-oxidation enzymes.
Previous studies in transgenic mice have shown that the brown adipose-enriched
expression of a key β-oxidation enzyme, medium chain acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase
(MCAD), requires cis-acting elements located within the proximal promoter region of the …