Just one gene may hold secret to controlling human obesity

Published on Sunday 22 February 2009 22:25

A SINGLE gene may hold the key to controlling human obesity with drugs, new research suggests. Scientists are getting closer to learning how common variants of the FTO gene make a person fat or lean.

Experiments with mice suggest that the gene does more than influence appetite and food intake. It also seems to affect energy expenditure at the cellular level.

Understanding FTO mechanisms could pave the way to developing therapeutic targets for obesity.

Mice without the FTO gene were shown to have their growth retarded after birth and to remain lean. Fat body mass was reduced by 60 per cent in FTO-negative male mice and 23 per cent in females.

Without FTO mice remained thin despite eating large amounts of food and being inactive.

The research suggested that FTO-deficient mice were burning up energy faster than those with an FTO gene.