Mitochondrial potassium transport and thermogenesis in brown adipocytes

• Grant number: 22/08807-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: October 31, 2022
• End date: April 29, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Metabolism and Bioenergetics
• Principal Investigator: Alicia Juliana Kowaltowski
• Grantee: Osvaldo Rodrigues Pereira Junior
• Supervisor: Yu-Hua Tseng
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Harvard University, Boston, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/14159-5 - Mitochondrial K+ transport and thermogenesis in the brown adipose tissue, BP.MS

Abstract

Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) displays a central role in non-shivering thermogenesis and cold adaptation in mammals. To do such, potential energy generated in the mitochondria through oxidation of nutrients is dissipated in the form of heat by a specific uncoupling protein, UCP1. Recent data show that this process requires a fine tuning of fusion (union of two separated mitochondria) and fission (fragmentation of an organelle into two mitochondria) events, which in turn require the control of mitochondrial matrix volume. Therefore, the mitochondrial potassium transport, as the main form of matrix volume regulation, emerges as a key pathway to thermogenesis in the BAT. The role that the mitochondrial potassium transporter, mitoKATP, exerts in the regulation of thermogenesis is not fully understood. Thus, the aim of this project is to investigate the part that mitoKATP plays to mitochondrial physiology, uncoupling and thermogenesis in the BAT. (AU)