Missing chunks of DNA may lead to obese children
By William Atkins
Monday, 07 December 2009 18:28
Page 1 of 3
The Nature paper “Large, rare chromosomal deletions associated with severe early-onset obesity” (doi:10.1038/nature08689) was published online on Sunday, December 6, 2009.
It is authored by Elena G. Bochukova, Julia Keogh, Elena Henning, Carolin Purmann, Kasia Blaszczyk, Sadia Saeed, Stephen O'Rahilly, and I. Sadaf Farooqi (all from the University of Cambridge, U.K.); Ni Huang and Matthew E. Hurles (both from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, U.K.); Julian Hamilton-Shield (Bristol Children’s Hospital, U.K.); and Jill Clayton-Smith (Genetic Medicine, St. Mary’s Hospital, U.K.).
They state in the abstract to their Nature paper: “Obesity is a highly heritable and genetically heterogeneous disorder.”
Within the Genetics Of Obesity Study (GOOS), they analyzed the DNA for additions or deletions of chromosomes within 300 Caucasian children with severe early-onset obesity; that is, they weighed up to 220 pounds by the age of ten years.
Of the 300 children, 143 of them already possessed delay in their development.
Within these children, the researchers found large, rare deletions of chromosomes when compared to 7,366 control children.
In fact, in one such deletion, that of chromosome 16, the researchers found that such an absence causes the brain to be unable to respond to the hormone leptin, which controls appetite.
Page two quotes Dr. Farooqu with respect to what happens when children lack a particular chromosome.
