Martin Klingenspor Professor for Molecular Nutrional Medicine, Technische Universität München Title Molecular Evolution of a Heat Dissipating Mechanism Abstract Brown adipose tissue serves eutherian mammals as a thermogenic organ to defend body temperature in the cold by non-shivering thermogenesis. The thermogenic function of the tissue is supported by several specialized features on the organ as well as on the cellular level, including a dense sympathetic innervation and vascularization, high lipolytic capacity and mitochondrial density and the expression of the uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1). This mitochondrial carrier inserted in the inner mitochondrial membrane stimulates maximal mitochondrial respiration by dissipating proton-motive force as heat. Studies in knockout mice have demonsrated that UCP1 is essential for non-shivering thermogenesis. Until recently it was generally thought that in vertebrate evolution brown adipose tissue and UCP1 emerged in eutherian mammals providing them with a unique advantage to survive in the cold. Our recent discovery of UCP1 orthologues in ectotherm vertebrates and marsupials challenges this presumption. We can now initiate comparative studies of the stucture-function relationships in different UCP1 orthologues to  gain insight when during vertebrate evolution UCP1 acquired the thermogenic function. CV Prof. Dr. Martin Klingenspor (1961) graduated from Philipps-Universität Marburg in 1987, and continued there in 1990 as a PhD student in the Department of Animal Physiology for four years, working on the seasonal regulation of gene expression in brown and white adipose tissue. After his PhD he obtained a DFG Fellowship to work on biomedical aspects of lipid metabolism in the Lipid Research Laboratory at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center and the University of California in Los Angeles (USA). In 1996 he was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the Philipps-Universität Marburg and started to focus on the molecular physiology of energy budget and body weight regulation in mammals. In 2002 he was appointed as an Associate Professor at the Philipps-Universität Marburg, and recently moved to the Technische Universität München as a Professor for Molecular Nutritional Medicine. He is serving as an associate editor of the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology since 2007. Selected recent Publications Nau K, Fromme T, Meyer CW, von Praun C, Heldmaier G, Klingenspor M. 2007. Brown adipose tissue specific lack of uncoupling protein 3 is associated with reduced cold tolerance and global reduction of metabolic gene expression. J Comp Physiol [B], in press. Mzilikazi N, Jastroch M, Meyer CW, Klingenspor M. 2007. The molecular and biochemical basis of non-shivering thermogenesis in an African endemic mammal, Elephantulus myurus. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol,in press. Pubmed Jastroch M, Buckingham JA, Helwig M, Klingenspor M, Brand MD. Functional characterisation of UCP1 in the common carp: uncoupling activity in liver mitochondria and cold-induced expression in the brain. J Comp Physiol [B] 177(7):743-52, 2007. Pubmed Fromme T, Reichwald K, Platzer M, Li XS, Klingenspor M. Chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor II regulates uncoupling protein 3 gene transcription in Phodopus sungorus. BMC Mol Biol 8:1, 2007. Pubmed Haemmerle G, Lass A, Zimmermann R, Gorkiewicz G, Meyer C, Rozman J, Heldmaier G, Maier R, Theussl C, Eder S, Kratky D, Wagner EF, Klingenspor M, Hoefler G, Zechner R. Defective lipolysis and altered energy metabolism in mice lacking adipose triglyceride lipase. Science 312: 734-737, 2006 Pubmed Helwig M, Khorooshi RM, Tups A, Barrett P, Archer ZA, Exner C, Rozman J, Braulke LJ, Mercer JG, Klingenspor M. PC1/3 and PC2 gene expression and post-translational endoproteolytic pro-opiomelanocortin processing is regulated by photoperiod in the seasonal Siberian hamster (Phodopus sungorus). J Neuroendocrinol 18: 413-425, 2006 Pubmed Tups A, Helwig M, Stohr S, Barrett P, Mercer JG, Klingenspor M. Photoperiodic regulation of insulin receptor mRNA and intracellular insulin signaling in the arcuate nucleus of the Siberian hamster, Phodopus sungorus. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol , 2006 Pubmed Institution address Prof. Dr. Martin Klingenspor Molecular Nutritional Medicine, Else Kröner Fresenius Center Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany Am Forum 5 85350 Freising Germany  Phone: +49 8161 71 2386 Fax: +49 8161 71 2097 martin.klingenspor@wzw.tum.de Website: www.wzw.tum.de/mnm