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Common variants in BDNF, FAIM2, FTO, MC4R, NEGR1, and SH2B1 show association with obesity‐related variables in S panish R oma population
Author(s) -
Poveda Alaitz,
Ibáñez María Eugenia,
Rebato Esther
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
american journal of human biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.559
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1520-6300
pISSN - 1042-0533
DOI - 10.1002/ajhb.22576
Subject(s) - single nucleotide polymorphism , obesity , genetics , biology , genome wide association study , phenotype , population , allele , genetic association , hum , intron , gene , genotype , medicine , endocrinology , environmental health , art , performance art , art history
Objectives The objective of this study is to investigate the association between previously GWAS identified genetic variants predisposing to obesity in Europeans and obesity‐related phenotypes in Roma population. Methods A total of 24 representative single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped in 372 individuals belonging to 50 extended families of Roma population. SNPs were tested for association with seven quantitative obesity‐related phenotypes in the PLINK program. Results Risk variants in NEGR1, FAIM2, FTO, and SH2B1 genes were associated with increased adiposity accumulation in Roma population with effect sizes between 0.21 and 0.34 Z‐scores for each copy of the BMI increasing allele. Additionally, variants in BDNF and MC4R were significantly associated with adiposity distribution but not with overall fatness. No significant association was detected between obesity‐related phenotypes and variants in the first intron of the FTO gene (e.g., rs9939609). Conclusions The results of this study suggest that SNPs in or near six genes (BDNF, FAIM2, FTO, MC4R, NEGR1, and SH2B1) are significantly associated with body fat accumulation and distribution in Roma people. However, the association observed among variants in the first intron of FTO and obesity in European derived populations is not evident in the analyzed Roma sample. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 26:660–669, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.