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.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

Hotly awaited structures obtained for the human protein UCP1

The protein UCP1 helps to release energy as heat in brown fat. Structures of human UCP1 provide crucial information about its mechanism of action, and might aid drug design for obesity and various metabolism-associated complications.
  1. Michael J. Gaudry

    1. Michael J. Gaudry is in the Department of Molecular Biosciences, the Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Martin Jastroch

    1. Martin Jastroch is in the Department of Molecular Biosciences, the Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Organelles called mitochondria act as the powerhouses of our cells. Furthermore, through the action of the protein UCP1, mitochondria can be ‘supercharged’ to provide extra heat. Writing in Nature, Kang and Chen1 shed light on the structure of human UCP1.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

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

Nature 620, 42-43 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02334-w

References

  1. Kang, Y. & Chen, L. Nature 620, 226–231 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Jastroch, M., Divakaruni, A. S., Mookerjee, S., Treberg, J. R. & Brand, M. D. Essays Biochem. 47, 53–67 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Singh, A. M. et al. Nature Commun. 11, 2758 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Crichton, P. G., Lee, Y. & Kunji, E. R. S. Biochimie 134, 35–50 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Wu, X. & Rapoport, T. A. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 118, e2115001118 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Zimmermann, I. et al. eLife 7, e34317 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Ruprecht, J. J. et al. Cell 176, 435–447 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Bertholet, A. M. et al. Nature 606, 180–187 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Jones, S. A. et al. Sci. Adv. 9, eadh4251 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Jastroch, M., Hirschberg, V. & Klingenspor, M. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1817, 1660–1670 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Divakaruni, A. S., Humphrey, D. M. & Brand, M. D. J. Biol. Chem. 287, 36845–36853 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

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

Search

Advanced search

Quick links