Genetic studies of body mass index yield new insights for obesity biology
- Categories: Basic Science
- Tags Genetics
Type Article
Journal Article
Authors
A. E. Locke; B. Kahali; S. I. Berndt; A. E. Justice; T. H. Pers; F. R. Day; C. Powell; S. Vedantam; M. L. Buchkovich; J. Yang; D. C. Croteau-Chonka; T. Esko; T. Fall; T. Ferreira; S. Gustafsson; Z. Kutalik; J. Luan; R. Mägi; J. C. Randall; T. W. Winkler;
Year of publication
2015
Publication/Journal
Nature
Volume
518
Issue
7538
Pages
197-206
Abstract
Obesity is heritable and predisposes to many diseases. To understand the genetic basis of obesity better, here we conduct a genome-wide association study and Metabochip meta-analysis of body mass index (BMI), a measure commonly used to define obesity and assess adiposity, in up to 339,224 individuals. This analysis identifies 97 BMI-associated loci (P 20% of BMI variation. Pathway analyses provide strong support for a role of the central nervous system in obesity susceptibility and implicate new genes and pathways, including those related to synaptic function, glutamate signalling, insulin secretion/action, energy metabolism, lipid biology and adipogenesis.