Body may use protein to generate heat, burn fat

New Scientist : A protein called sarcolipin has been shown to help muscles generate heat for maintaining body temperature in mice. Sarcolipin appears to work alongside brown fat, which regulates heat by burning white fat. Researchers at the Ohio State University made their discovery by surgically removing brown fat from two groups of mice: One group produced sarcolipin, and the other didn’t. When subjected to an ambient temperature of 4 °C, all of the sarcolipin-producing mice were able to maintain their core temperatures; the mice that lacked sarcolipin died. The team, led by Muthu Periasamy, also determined that mice unable to produce sarcolipin were 33% heavier than their counterparts when fed a high fat diet. That finding suggests that there might also be a connection between sarcolipin production and obesity in humans.