Interrupting synoviolin play at the ER: a plausible action to elevate mitochondrial energetics and silence obesity.

Obesity is a global concern, which has been linked to increased risk for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis,non-alcoholic fatty liver, and cancer. In this issue of The EMBO Journal,Fujita et al (2015) describe the role of an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident E3ubiquitin ligase, synoviolin, and its ability to control body weight and energy expenditure by targeting PGC-1b, a transcriptional modulator of mitochondrial oxidative metabolism.