Gender advantage of women-More fat and with bigger advantage!

Recently, a study by the University of Cincinnati was published in the journal Nature metabolism. The study found that compared with men, women have more mitochondria in the fat medium, which helps to prevent obesity and some metabolic diseases. This is the "gender advantage of women".

In this study, high-throughput omics was used to compare the molecular differences between different individuals, link these differences with physiological function or disease state, and explore how genetic variation and gender differences affect mitochondria and their function. 

Mitochondria are covered by two layers of membrane, which is the main place for aerobic respiration. It has its own genetic material and is a unique semi autonomous organelle. Mitochondria not only provide energy for cells by producing ATP, but also produce metabolites of biosynthesis, protein modification and signal transduction. There are gender differences in metabolic phenotypes in mice, humans and other species. Women tend to show more beneficial metabolic characteristics, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. Mitochondria play an important role in cardiac metabolic diseases, so researchers take mitochondria as a breakthrough point to explore the metabolic differences caused by gender differences.

First, an increase in female specific mitochondria was found in both mouse and human fat. Mitochondria are rich in OXPHOS (oxidative phosphorylation) gene. The results showed that female mice contained more OXPHOS gene in fat, but not in liver. Similar results have been obtained in humans.

Second, mitochondria in fat can predict metabolic syndrome in both mice and humans.

The researchers used the mtDNA copy number in fat to represent the quality of mitochondria. It was found that the mtDNA content of female mice was significantly rich, and the mtDNA level showed a strong correlation with metabolic characteristics: the mtDNA copy number in fat was negatively correlated with body weight and the stable state of insulin resistance. Therefore, adipose tissue mitochondrial mass is a powerful predictor of metabolic characteristics in mice and humans. Then, the research team explored the contribution of natural genetic variation to the regulation of mitochondrial metabolic traits, and fed mice with high-fat and high sucrose (HF / HS) diet to change the genetic variation of gene expression level. The results showed that the expression of OXPHOS gene and mtDNA in fat of female with TT genotype was higher than that of female with CC genotype, and the body weight was lighter, but this phenomenon was not seen in male. The weight of females carrying TT genotype decreased significantly. 

Finally, the study focused on ndufv2 gene, a potential homeopathic gene located in fat. Female mice tended to express higher ndufv2, and female mice carrying TT genotype expressed higher. This association was not observed in male adipose or liver tissue. When ndufv2 gene was overexpressed, it was found that the weight of C57BL / 6J (CC genotype) females decreased only slightly and the number of mitochondria increased, while the weight of a / J (TT genotype) females decreased more significantly and the number of mitochondria increased. The expression of ndufv2 in females was higher than that in males. The expression of TT genotype was higher in female population.

In conclusion, the function of mitochondria in female fat is higher than that in male fat, both in mice and humans. The function of mitochondria is closely related to obesity, insulin resistance and blood lipid. This study confirmed that mitochondrial transcripts are different in different tissues and genders, and the copy number of mitochondrial DNA has a strong correlation with the metabolic characteristics of mice and humans.

Finally, it was found that ndufv2 gene in fat regulates obesity by promoting mitochondrial function and transcripts in different genders. These appropriately belong to the "gender advantages" of girls. Fat girls finally have an excuse not to lose weight! In addition to keeping warm, female fat also has more mitochondria, which has a higher protective effect on metabolic diseases!

 

Cindy