Mammalian adipogenesis regulators (Aregs) exhibit robust non- and anti-adipogenic properties that arise with age and involve retinoic acid signalling

Adipose stem and precursor cells (ASPCs) give rise to adipocytes and determine the composition and plasticity of adipose tissue. Recently, several studies have demonstrated that ASPCs partition into at least three distinct cell subpopulations: Dpp4+ stem-like cells, Aoc3+ pre-adipocyte-like cells, and the enigmatic CD142+ cells. A great challenge now is to functionally characterize these distinct ASPC populations. Here, we focus on CD142+ ASPCs since discrepant properties have been assigned to this subpopulation, from adipogenic to non- and even anti-adipogenic. To address these inconsistencies, we comprehensively characterized mammalian subcutaneous CD142+ ASPCs across various sampling conditions. Our findings demonstrate that CD142+ ASPCs exhibit high molecular and phenotypic robustness, firmly supporting their non- and anti-adipogenic properties. However, these properties emerge in an age-dependent manner, revealing surprising temporal CD142+ ASPC behavioural alterations. Finally, using multi-omic and functional assays, we show that the inhibitory nature of these adipogenesis-regulatory CD142+ ASPCs (Aregs) is driven by specifically expressed secretory factors that cooperate with the retinoic acid signalling pathway to transform the adipogenic state of CD142- ASPCs into a non-adipogenic, Areg-like one.