The Search for Human Obesity Genes
Anthony G. Comuzzie,
David B. Allison
Understanding of the genetic influences on obesity has increased at
a tremendous rate in recent years. By some estimates, 40 to 70 percent
of the variation in obesity-related phenotypes in humans is heritable.
Although several single-gene mutations have been shown to cause obesity
in animal models, the situation in humans is considerably more complex.
The most common forms of human obesity arise from the interactions of
multiple genes, environmental factors, and behavior, and this complex
etiology makes the search for obesity genes especially challenging.
This article discusses the strategies currently being used to search for human obesity genes and recent promising results from these efforts.
A. G. Comuzzie is in the Department of Genetics, Southwest
Foundation for Biomedical Research, P.O. Box 760549, San Antonio,
TX 78245-0549, USA. D. B. Allison is at the Obesity
Research Center, St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital, Columbia University
College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10025, USA.
