Skip to main content
Kristallstruktur von Vaspin
Helmholtz Munich | John Heiker

Myoglobin in Thermogenic Adipocytes

Myoglobin in Thermogenic Adipocytes

Myoglobin as a Metabolic Shuttle in Thermogenic Adipocytes

Myoglobin (MB) is highly expressed in brown adipose tissue (BAT), and expression increases during brown adipocyte differentiation and furthermore with BAT activation in vivo. We have revealed that expression levels of MB in brown and white adipocytes control mitochondrial respiratory capacity and increase the acute response to adrenergic signaling and lipolysis, demonstrating myoglobins interaction with lipids as the mode of action underlying increased respiration. 

Together with our collaborators at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ), at the Institute of Bioanalytical Chemistry (UL), we investigate the structural basis of the MB-lipid interaction and establish MB impact on energy expenditure in conditional MB knockout mice. 

Contact Project Leader

MA-Foto John Heiker_freigestellt

PD Dr. Dr. John Heiker

Group Leader "Molecular Obesity Research"

Leipzig