Identification of miR-106b-93 as a negative regulator of brown adipocyte differentiation

microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to play an essential role in the regulation of brown adipocyte adipogenesis. In the present study, we investigated the role of the miR-106b-93 cluster in the differentiation of brown adipocytes. We found that knockdown of miR-106b and miR-93 significantly induced the expression of brown fat-specific genes and promoted the accumulation of lipid-droplet in differentiating brown adipocytes. In addition, ectopic expression of miR-106b and miR-93 suppressed the mRNA level of Ucp1, a selective hallmark of brown adipocytes. Furthermore, the expression levels of miR-106b and miR-93 are higher in brown adipose tissues of high fat diet-induced obese mice compared to control mice. Taken together, our results identify miR-106b and miR-93 as negative regulators of brown adipocyte differentiation and the miR-106b-93 cluster may play an important role in regulating energy homeostasis. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.