Science Current Events | Science News | Brightsurf.com
 
Email a Friend Send to a friend
Printer Friendly Print Obesity genes revealed

Obesity genes revealed

August 11, 2008

A study of 228 women has revealed genetic variants responsible for body shape. Based on work in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, research published today in the open access journal BMC Genetics identifies natural variation in the human LAMA5 gene as a key determinant of weight.

As the prevalence of obesity and related health problems continues to increase worldwide, there is considerable effort being devoted to identify genetic mechanisms that control fat storage. Maria De Luca led a team from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA, who identified candidate genes using different strains of Drosophila.




On the basis of the results of these fly experiments, the research team then tested three common variations in the human LAMA5 gene and discovered two gene variants that were associated with body shape, one in women of European American descent and the other affecting women of American African descent. As De Luca reports, "We found one variant to be associated with weight and lean mass in both ethnic groups. This variant was also associated with height, total fat mass and HDL-cholesterol, but only in European American women. A different variant was associated with triglyceride levels and HDL-cholesterol in African American women."

The use of flies in a study of human obesity may seem strange, but according to De Luca "Insects store fat like mammals do, as lipid droplets accumulated in the fat body, the functional equivalent of both mammalian liver and white adipose tissue". She adds that, "Drosophila share many components of fat biosynthesis, degradation and regulation with humans, including many of those implicated in diabetes and obesity".

BioMed Central



Related Drosophila Current Events and Drosophila News Articles Drosophila Current Events and Drosophila News RSS Drosophila Current Events and Drosophila News RSS
Making flies sick reveals new role for growth factors in immunity
A Salmonella infection is not a positive experience. However, by infecting the common laboratory fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster with a Salmonella strain known for causing humans intestinal grief, researchers in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University have shed light on some key cell regulatory processes - with broad implications for understanding embryonic development, immune function and congenital diseases in humans.

Researchers identify genetic switch critical for cell survival in hypoxia
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a critical metabolic "switch" in fruit flies that helps oxygen-deprived cells survive.

Scientists identify genes capable of regulating stem cell function
Scientists from The Forsyth Institute, Boston, MA, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Utah School of Medicine have developed a new system in which to study known mammalian adult stem cell disorders.

Stem cell chicken and egg debate moves to unlikely arena: the testes
Logic says it has to be the niche. As air and water preceded life, so the niche, that hospitable environment that shelters adult stem cells in many tissues and provides factors necessary to keep them young and vital, must have emerged before its stem cell dependents.

Discovery of a mechanism that regulates cell movement
A study performed by researchers at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), in collaboration with researchers at the Instituto de Biología Molecular of the CSIC, reveal a mechanism that controls the movement of cells in a tissue by regulating cell adhesion.

Researchers reveal types of genes necessary for brain development
Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Brandeis University have successfully completed a full-genome RNAi screen in neurons, showing what types of genes are necessary for brain development. Details of the screen and its novel methodology are published July 4th in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics.

Plants in the fourth dimension
As anyone who has suffered from jetlag knows, we have internal clocks that tell us when to sleep and wake, and we can be miserable when these are disrupted.

Estimation of isolation times in the Drosophila simulans complex
The Drosophila simulans species complex continues to serve as an important model system for the study of new species formation. The complex is comprised of the cosmopolitan species, D. simulans, and two island endemics, D. mauritiana and D. sechellia.

Shilatifard Lab Identifies New Role for Factor Critical to Transcription
The Stowers Institute's Shilatifard Lab has identified a new role for the elongation factor ELL in gene transcription by RNA polymerase II (Pol II) - the enzyme that synthesizes messenger RNA to carry genetic information from DNA to the protein-synthesizing machinery of the cell.

Taking the temperature of the no-fly zone
Flies, unlike humans, can't manipulate the temperature of their surroundings so they need to pick the best spot for flourishing. New Brandeis University research in this week's Nature reveals that they have internal thermosensors to help them.
More Drosophila Current Events and Drosophila News Articles


Fly Pushing: The Theory and Practice of Drosophila Genetics
by Ralph J. Greenspan

This study aims to give investigators the chance to combine molecular and genetic approaches in studies of gene expression, cell function and development. Fly genetics has a large and complex folklore to which this guide aims to provide a bridge. It guides the readers through the practicalities of making crosses, isolating variants, mapping genes, constructing specific genotypes and analyzing...



Drosophila: Methods and Protocols (Methods in Molecular Biology)

With its long-standing tradition as a model organism, many techniques using Drosophila melanogaster have been established and continue to be developed, while the recent invention of techniques allowing the knock-down of genes by RNA interference and gene replacement by homologous recombination demonstrates the ongoing efforts to broaden the technical repertoire.  In Drosophila: Methods and...

Drosophila Protocols (Manual)

This exceptional laboratory manual describes thirty-seven procedures most likely to be used in the next decade for molecular, biochemical, and cellular studies on Drosophila. They were selected after extensive consultation with the research community and rigorously edited for clarity, uniformity, and conciseness. The methods included permit investigation of chromosomes, cell biology, molecular...



Drosophila: A Laboratory Handbook
by Michael A., M.D. Ashburn, Kent G. Golic, R. Scott Hawley

The second edition of the highly successful "grey book" rosophila: A Laboratory Handbook, first published in 1989, has been completely updated to reflect advances in techniques and knowledge. The original format is maintained, providing a handy reference guide to most aspects of the biology of Drosophila. Each of the thirty–six chapters summarizes the present state of the subject, written with...



Lords of the Fly: Drosophila Genetics and the Experimental Life
by Robert E. Kohler

The common fruit fly, Drosophila, has long been one of the most productive of all laboratory animals. From 1910 to 1940, the center of Drosophila culture in America was the school of Thomas Hunt Morgan and his students Alfred Sturtevant and Calvin Bridges. They first created "standard" flies through inbreeding and by organizing a network for exchanging stocks of flies that spread their practices...



Drosophila: A Guide to Species Identification and Use
by Therese A. Markow, Patrick O'Grady

Anyone wishing to tap the research potential of the hundreds of Drosophila species in addition to D.melanogaster will finally have a single comprehensive resource for identifying, rearing and using this diverse group of insects. This is the only group of higher eukaryotes for which the genomes of 12 species have been sequenced.The fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster continues to be one of the...



Biology of Drosophila

Biology of Drosophila was first published by John Wiley and Sons in 1950. Until its appearance, no central, synthesized source of biological data on Drosophila melanogaster was available, despite the fly's importance to science for three decades. Ten years in the making, it was an immediate success and remained in print for two decades. However, original copies are now very hard to find. This...



Drosophila: A Practical Approach (Practical Approach Series)

Drosophila--the scientist's favorite laboratory organism--is a key subject for studying genetics, development, and behavior. The second edition of this popular hands-on guide brings the methodology up-to-date, with contributions from the leading researchers in the field. Chapters include the elements of Drosophila biology and genetics; mutagenesis; transposons--gene tagging and mutagenesis;...



Brain Development in Drosophila melanogaster (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology) (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology)

The central nervous system (CNS) represents the organ with the highest structural and functional complexity. Accordingly, uncovering the mechanisms leading to cell diversity, patterning and connectivity in the CNS is one of the major challenges in developmental biology. The developing CNS of the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster is an ideal model system to study these processes. Several principle...



RNA Interference in Practice: Principles, Basics, and Methods for Gene Silencing in C.elegans, Drosophila, and Mammals
by Ute Schepers

This hands-on guide to RNA interference brings the power of targeted gene silencing to any laboratory with the basic equipment for handling nucleic acids. In easy-to-follow, step-by-step protocols you will learn: How RNAi works in worms, flies and mammals How to design the most efficient RNAi constructs How to achieve transient, stable and conditional RNAi in cell cultures ...

© 2008 BrightSurf.com