Obesity develops from a chronic energy imbalance in which energy intake exceeds energy expenditure. As brown adipose tissue (BAT) dissipates energy and produces heat, increasing energy expenditure via BAT thermogenesis may constitute a novel therapeutic intervention for the treatment of obesity and obesity-related diseases. Studies over the past few years have identified key regulatory molecules of brown and beige adipocyte biogenesis, including a dominant transcriptional co-regulator PRDM16 (PR domain containing 16) and its co-factors, which allows for engineering functional BAT by genetic approaches. A next step toward the goal of promoting BAT thermogenesis by pharmacological approaches necessitates a better understanding of the enzymatic components and signaling pathways for brown and beige adipocyte development. This review covers recent advances regarding this topic, with a special emphasis on the PRDM16 transcriptional pathway.

肥胖症源于长期的能量失衡，其中能量摄入超过能量消耗。随着棕色脂肪组织（BAT）耗散能量并产生热量，通过BAT生热作用增加的能量消耗可能构成治疗肥胖症和与肥胖相关的疾病的新型治疗手段。过去几年的研究已经确定了棕色和米色脂肪细胞生物发生的关键调控分子，包括占主导地位的转录共调控因子PRDM16（PR结构域包含16）及其辅因子，可以通过遗传方法对功能性BAT进行工程改造。通过药理学方法促进BAT生热的目标的下一步需要更好地了解棕色和米色脂肪细胞发育的酶促成分和信号传导途径。