The effect of diet and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) exposure on adipocyte and whole body metabolism in male Wistar rats

PBDEs, lipophilic flame-retardant chemicals, are considered to be endocrine-disrupting compounds and potential obesogens. This study investigated PBDE exposure plus a high-fat/high-sugar diet in rats. Twenty-eight male Wistar rats were fed either a control or high-fat/high-sugar diet and gavaged with either 18 mg/kg PBDEs or corn oil daily for 4 weeks. Body weight and food intake were measured 3x/week. At 3 weeks, 24-hr whole-body metabolism was measured. At 4 weeks, blood was sampled for T4 and insulin, epididymal adipose tissue was removed and adipocyte lipolytic response to varying concentrations of isoproterenol was measured. PBDE administration significantly increased weight gain, decreased T4 levels and tended to increase glucose disappearance, increase energy production and decrease insulin levels. A dietxPBDE treatment interaction was noted for metabolic efficiency, protein disappearance, epididymal adipose weight, and insulin level. PBDEs disrupt macronutrient metabolism and energy balance in rats and the obesogenicity of PBDEs can be modulated by diet

The genome of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus.

International audienceWe report the sequence and analysis of the 814-megabase genome of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, a model for developmental and systems biology. The sequencing strategy combined whole-genome shotgun and bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) sequences. This use of BAC clones, aided by a pooling strategy, overcame difficulties associated with high heterozygosity of the genome. The genome encodes about 23,300 genes, including many previously thought to be vertebrate innovations or known only outside the deuterostomes. This echinoderm genome provides an evolutionary outgroup for the chordates and yields insights into the evolution of deuterostomes