{"doi":"10.3389/fphys.2021.780312","title":"Protein Kinase SGK2 Is Induced by the β3 Adrenergic Receptor-cAMP-PKA-PGC-1α/NT-PGC-1α Axis but Dispensable for Brown/Beige Adipose Tissue Thermogenesis","abstract":"Brown and beige adipocytes are specialized to dissipate energy as heat. Sgk2 , encoding a serine/threonine kinase, has been identified as a brown and beige adipocyte-specific gene in rodents and humans; however, its function in brown/beige adipocytes remains unraveled. Here, we examined the regulation and role of Sgk2 in brown/beige adipose tissue thermogenesis. We found that transcriptional coactivators PGC-1α and NT-PGC-1α activated by the β 3 adrenergic receptor-cAMP-PKA pathway are recruited to the Sgk2 promoter, triggering Sgk2 transcription in response to cold. SGK2 elevation was closely associated with increased serine/threonine phosphorylation of proteins carrying the consensus RxRxxS/T phosphorylation site. However, despite cold-dependent activation of SGK2, mice lacking Sgk2 exhibited normal cold tolerance at 4°C. In addition, Sgk2 +/+ and Sgk2 −/− mice induced comparable increases in energy expenditure during pharmacological activation of brown and beige adipose tissue with a β 3 AR agonist. In vitro loss- and gain-of-function studies further demonstrated that Sgk2 ablation or activation does not alter thermogenic gene expression and mitochondrial respiration in brown adipocytes. Collectively, our results reveal a new signaling component SGK2, although dispensable for cold-induced thermogenesis that adds an additional layer of complexity to the β 3 AR signaling network in brown/beige adipose tissue.","journal":"Frontiers in Physiology","year":2021,"id":208654,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":3,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9556,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":795317,"name":"Ji‐Young Moon","orcid":"0000-0003-3664-0870","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":58775,"name":"Minsung Park","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":423036,"name":"Helia Cheng","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":421901,"name":"Jisu Lee","orcid":"0000-0002-3327-1945","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":421902,"name":"Ji Suk Chang","orcid":"0000-0002-0706-1960","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":766982,"name":"Chul‐Hong Park","orcid":"0000-0002-0476-8450","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":64,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:51:57.582057Z","pmid":"34899399","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}