A time-resolved proteomic analysis of transcription factors regulating adipogenesis of human adipose derived stem cells

Adipogenesis is one of the key processes during obesity development. Better understanding of this process could advance our knowledge on obesity and its treatment. Transcription factors (TFs) are master regulators during adipogenesis, however, a system-wide analysis of TFs dynamic proteome during adipogenesis is lacking. Here, we profiled 472 TFs and systematically elucidated their roles during the first 7 days of adipogenesis of human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs) on proteome scale. We identified two main and four sub-phases during adipogenesis. The commitment phase (0 h–8 h) mainly mediated stem cell proliferation, differentiation and chromatin remodeling, in which proteins of SWI/SNF family are the key centroid nodes. The determination phase (1D-7D) predominately regulated fat cell differentiation and response to lipid and oxygen, which could be associated with terminal differentiation of adipocyte and responsible for maturation. PPARγ, CREB1 and MYC are the centroid nodes of this phase. Remarkably, we identified and verified three TFs (BATF3, MAFF and MXD4) as novel regulators of adipogenesis, whose over-expression could inhibit adipogenesis of hADSCs in vitro. Overall, our study provided a valuable TFs resource to understand the complex process of adipogenesis.