Journal: Metabolism: clinical and experimental
Article Title: Serum Response Factor (SRF) promotes actin cytoskeletal organization in adipocytes to support adaptive hypertrophic expansion and tissue remodeling during obesity in mice
doi: 10.1016/j.metabol.2026.156548
Figure Lengend Snippet: Critical role of SRF in regulating actin cytoskeletal gene expression in adipocytes in vitro . (A) Motif identified by MEME that is enriched in H3K27ac peaks within the HFD-associated super-enhancer regions. (B) Alignment of the SRF binding motif identified de novo from SRF ChIP-Seq in TGFβ1-treated 3T3L1 adipocytes, compared to the canonical SRF motif from the HOMER database. (C) Pathway analysis of genes associated with SRF ChIP-seq peaks. (D) Genomic tracks showing SRF and H3K27ac ChIP-seq signals at the Acta2 locus, highlighting SRF binding induced by TGFβ1 treatment (indicated by a black arrow) within an adipocyte super-enhancer region. (E–G) In vitro loss- and gain-of function experiments in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Gene expression analysis of cytoskeletal genes following (E) Srf knockdown ( shSrf , n = 3 per condition, total N = 6) and (F) overexpression ( Srf OE, n = 3 per condition, total N = 6). (G) Western blot analysis of SRF and ACTA2 protein levels upon Srf overexpression ( Srf OE, n = 2 per condition, total N = 4). A two-tailed Student’s t -test was used for statistical analysis. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001.
Article Snippet: For generation of SRF knockout mice specific to beige and brown adipocytes (SRF-BKO), Srf -flox mice were crossed with Ucp1 -Cre mice (Jackson Laboratory, 024670).
Techniques: Gene Expression, In Vitro, Binding Assay, ChIP-sequencing, Knockdown, Over Expression, Western Blot, Two Tailed Test