transgenesis has contributed to a better understanding of adipose tissue (AT) homeostasis and development mechanisms. A very large number of transgenic animal models have been created to study the involvement of AT proteins in obesity. The aim of the present paper is to give an overview of the transgenic studies performed in this field. We have focused the review on genes that are expressed in AT (Tables 1 and 2). The impact of the central nervous system control of food intake on AT development has been dealt with elsewhere and will not be covered here