De novo generation of white adipocytes from the myeloid lineage via mesenchymal intermediates is age, adipose depot, and gender specific.

It is generally assumed that white adipocytes arise from resident adipose tissue mesenchymal progenitor cells. We challenge this paradigm by defining a hematopoietic origin for both the de novo development of a subset of white adipocytes in adults and a previously uncharacterized adipose tissue resident mesenchymal progenitor population. Lineage and cytogenetic analysis revealed that bone marrow progenitor (BMP)-derived adipocytes and adipocyte progenitors arise from hematopoietic cells via the myeloid lineage in the absence of cell fusion.