Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Metabolism

Targeting a fat-accumulation gene

Nature volume 508, pages 194–195 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

An enzyme that links two metabolic hubs has been found to be upregulated in the fat cells of overweight mice. Inhibition of the gene encoding this enzyme protects mice from diet-induced obesity. See Letter p.258

In recent decades, increased food availability has dramatically altered many people's diets. Each year, billions of tonnes of grain are fed to livestock or converted to ingredients for food. Consumption of the resulting meat, fat and processed carbohydrate by humans, accompanied by a decline in their energy expenditure, has created a nutritional overload that has resulted in increased adiposity and incidence of the resulting diseases worldwide. On page 258 of this issue, Kraus et al.1 identify Nnmt, which encodes the enzyme nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT), as a gene whose activity is ramped up by nutritional overload, and they find that Nnmt is required for the accumulation of fat.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Accelerating fat-cell metabolism.

References

  1. Kraus, D. et al. Nature 508, 258–262 (2014).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Ghanta, S., Grossmann, R. E. & Brenner, C. Crit. Rev. Biochem. Mol. Biol. 48, 561–574 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Abel, E. D. et al. Nature 409, 729–733 (2001).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Yang, Q. et al. Nature 436, 356–362 (2005).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Lee, Y. H. et al. Diabetologia 48, 1776–1783 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Bogan, K. L. & Brenner, C. Annu. Rev. Nutr. 28, 115–130 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Aksoy, S., Szumlanski, C. L. & Weinshilboum, R. M. J. Biol. Chem. 269, 14835–14840 (1994).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Lu, S. C. Int. J. Biochem. Cell Biol. 32, 391–395 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Jell, J. et al. J. Biol. Chem. 282, 8404–8413 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Pirinen, E. et al. Mol. Cell. Biol. 27, 4953–4967 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Charles Brenner is in the Department of Biochemistry, the Obesity Research Initiative, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA.,

    Charles Brenner

Authors
  1. Charles Brenner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charles Brenner.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Brenner, C. Targeting a fat-accumulation gene. Nature 508, 194–195 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/508194a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/508194a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing