Genetic studies of body mass index yield new insights for obesity biology

Locke, A. E. et al. (2015) Genetic studies of body mass index yield new insights for obesity biology. Nature, 518(7538), pp. 197-206. (doi: 10.1038/nature14177) (PMID:25673413) (PMCID:PMC4382211)

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 < 5 × 10−8), 56 of which are novel. Five loci demonstrate clear evidence of several independent association signals, and many loci have significant effects on other metabolic phenotypes. The 97 loci account for ~2.7% of BMI variation, and genome-wide estimates suggest that common variation accounts for >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.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Johnson, Dr Paul and Dominiczak, Professor Anna and Sattar, Professor Naveed and Ford, Professor Ian and Strawbridge, Dr Rona
• Authors: Locke, A. E., Kahali, B., Berndt, S. I., Justice, A. E., Pers, T. H., Day, F. R., Powell, C., Vedantam, S., Buchkovich, M. L., Yang, J., Croteau-Chonka, D. C., Esko, T., Fall, T., Ferreira, T., Gustafsson, S., Kutalik, Z., Luan, J.’a., Mägi, R., Randall, J. C., Winkler, T. W., Wood, A. R., Workalemahu, T., Faul, J. D., Smith, J. A., Hua Zhao, J., Zhao, W., Chen, J., Fehrmann, R., Hedman, Å. K., Karjalainen, J., Schmidt, E. M., Absher, D., Amin, N., Anderson, D., Beekman, M., Bolton, J. L., Bragg-Gresham, J. L., Buyske, S., Demirkan, A., Deng, G., Ehret, G. B., Feenstra, B., Feitosa, M. F., Fischer, K., Goel, A., Gong, J., Jackson, A. U., Kanoni, S., Kleber, M. E., Kristiansson, K., Lim, U., Lotay, V., Mangino, M., Mateo Leach, I., Medina-Gomez, C., Medland, S. E., Nalls, M. A., Palmer, C. D., Pasko, D., Pechlivanis, S., Peters, M. J., Prokopenko, I., Shungin, D., Stančáková, A., Strawbridge, R. J., Ju Sung, Y., Tanaka, T., Teumer, A., Trompet, S., van der Laan, S. W., van Setten, J., Van Vliet-Ostaptchouk, J. V., Wang, Z., Yengo, L., Zhang, W., Isaacs, A., Albrecht, E., Ärnlöv, J., Arscott, G. M., Attwood, A. P., Bandinelli, S., Barrett, A., Bas, I. N., Bellis, C., Bennett, A. J., Berne, C., Blagieva, R., Blüher, M., Böhringer, S., Bonnycastle, L. L., Böttcher, Y., Boyd, H. A., Bruinenberg, M., Caspersen, I. H., Ida Chen, Y.-D., Clarke, R., Warwick Daw, E., de Craen, A. J. M., Delgado, G., Dimitriou, M., Doney, A. S. F., Eklund, N., Estrada, K., Eury, E., Folkersen, L., Fraser, R. M., Garcia, M. E., Geller, F., Giedraitis, V., Gigante, B., Go, A. S., Golay, A., Goodall, A. H., Gordon, S. D., Gorski, M., Grabe, H.-J., Grallert, H., Grammer, T. B., Gräßler, J., Grönberg, H., Groves, C. J., Gusto, G., Haessler, J., Hall, P., Haller, T., Hallmans, G., Hartman, C. A., Hassinen, M., Hayward, C., Heard-Costa, N. L., Helmer, Q., Hengstenberg, C., Holmen, O., Hottenga, J.-J., James, A. L., Jeff, J. M., Johansson, Å., Jolley, J., Juliusdottir, T., Kinnunen, L., Koenig, W., Koskenvuo, M., Kratzer, W., Laitinen, J., Lamina, C., Leander, K., Lee, N. R., Lichtner, P., Lind, L., Lindström, J., Sin Lo, K., Lobbens, S., Lorbeer, R., Lu, Y., Mach, F., Magnusson, P. K. E., Mahajan, A., McArdle, W. L., McLachlan, S., Menni, C., Merger, S., Mihailov, E., Milani, L., Moayyeri, A., Monda, K. L., Morken, M. A., Mulas, A., Müller, G., Müller-Nurasyid, M., Musk, A. W., Nagaraja, R., Nöthen, M. M., Nolte, I. M., Pilz, S., Rayner, N. W., Renstrom, F., Rettig, R., Ried, J. S., Ripke, S., Robertson, N. R., Rose, L. M., Sanna, S., Scharnagl, H., Scholtens, S., Schumacher, F. R., Scott, W. R., Seufferlein, T., Shi, J., Vernon Smith, A., Smolonska, J., Stanton, A. V., Steinthorsdottir, V., Stirrups, K., Stringham, H. M., Sundström, J., Swertz, M. A., Swift, A. J., Syvänen, A.-C., Tan, S.-T., Tayo, B. O., Thorand, B., Thorleifsson, G., Tyrer, J. P., Uh, H.-W., Vandenput, L., Verhulst, F. C., Vermeulen, S. H., Verweij, N., Vonk, J. M., Waite, L. L., Warren, H. R., Waterworth, D., Weedon, M. N., Wilkens, L. R., Willenborg, C., Wilsgaard, T., Wojczynski, M. K., Wong, A., Wright, A. F., Zhang, Q., Brennan, E. P., Choi, M., Dastani, Z., Drong, A. W., Eriksson, P., Franco-Cereceda, A., Gådin, J. R., Gharavi, A. G., Goddard, M. E., Handsaker, R. E., Huang, J., Karpe, F., Kathiresan, S., Keildson, S., Kiryluk, K., Kubo, M., Lee, J.-Y., Liang, L., Lifton, R. P., Ma, B., McCarroll, S. A., McKnight, A. J., Min, J. L., Moffatt, M. F., Montgomery, G. W., Murabito, J. M., Nicholson, G., Nyholt, D. R., Okada, Y., Perry, J. R. B., Dorajoo, R., Reinmaa, E., Salem, R. M., Sandholm, N., Scott, R. A., Stolk, L., Takahashi, A., Tanaka, T., van’t Hooft, F. M., Vinkhuyzen, A. A. E., Westra, H.-J., Zheng, W., Zondervan, K. T., Heath, A. C., Arveiler, D., Bakker, S. J. L., Beilby, J., Bergman, R. N., Blangero, J., Bovet, P., Campbell, H., Caulfield, M. J., Cesana, G., Chakravarti, A., Chasman, D. I., Chines, P. S., Collins, F. S., Crawford, D. C., Adrienne Cupples, L., Cusi, D., Danesh, J., de Faire, U., den Ruijter, H. M., Dominiczak, A. F., Erbel, R., Erdmann, J., Eriksson, J. G., Farrall, M., Felix, S. B., Ferrannini, E., Ferrières, J., Ford, I., Forouhi, N. G., Forrester, T., Franco, O. H., Gansevoort, R. T., Gejman, P. V., Gieger, C., Gottesman, O., Gudnason, V., Gyllensten, U., Hall, A. S., Harris, T. B., Hattersley, A. T., Hicks, A. A., Hindorff, L. A., Hingorani, A. D., Hofman, A., Homuth, G., Kees Hovingh, G., Humphries, S. E., Hunt, S. C., Hyppönen, E., Illig, T., Jacobs, K. B., Jarvelin, M.-R., Jöckel, K.-H., Johansen, B., Jousilahti, P., Wouter Jukema, J., Jula, A. M., Kaprio, J., Kastelein, J. J. P., Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi, S. M., Kiemeney, L. A., Knekt, P., Kooner, J. S., Kooperberg, C., Kovacs, P., Kraja, A. T., Kumari, M., Kuusisto, J., Lakka, T. A., Langenberg, C., Le Marchand, L., Lehtimäki, T., Lyssenko, V., Männistö, S., Marette, A., Matise, T. C., McKenzie, C. A., McKnight, B., Moll, F. L., Morris, A. D., Morris, A. P., Murray, J. C., Nelis, M., Ohlsson, C., Oldehinkel, A. J., Ong, K. K., Madden, P. A. F., Pasterkamp, G., Peden, J. F., Peters, A., Postma, D. S., Pramstaller, P. P., Price, J. F., Qi, L., Raitakari, O. T., Rankinen, T., Rao, D. C., Rice, T. K., Ridker, P. M., Rioux, J. D., Ritchie, M. D., Rudan, I., Salomaa, V., Samani, N. J., Saramies, J., Sarzynski, M. A., Schunkert, H., Schwarz, P. E. H., Sever, P., Shuldiner, A. R., Sinisalo, J., Stolk, R. P., Strauch, K., Tönjes, A., Trégouët, D.-A., Tremblay, A., Tremoli, E., Virtamo, J., Vohl, M.-C., Völker, U., Waeber, G., Willemsen, G., Witteman, J. C., Carola Zillikens, M., Adair, L. S., Amouyel, P., Asselbergs, F. W., Assimes, T. L., Bochud, M., Boehm, B. O., Boerwinkle, E., Bornstein, S. R., Bottinger, E. P., Bouchard, C., Cauchi, S., Chambers, J. C., Chanock, S. J., Cooper, R. S., de Bakker, P. I. W., Dedoussis, G., Ferrucci, L., Franks, P. W., Froguel, P., Groop, L. C., Haiman, C. A., Hamsten, A., Hui, J., Hunter, D. J., Hveem, K., Kaplan, R. C., Kivimaki, M., Kuh, D., Laakso, M., Liu, Y., Martin, N. G., März, W., Melbye, M., Metspalu, A., Moebus, S., Munroe, P. B., Njølstad, I., Oostra, B. A., Palmer, C. N. A., Pedersen, N. L., Perola, M., Pérusse, L., Peters, U., Power, C., Quertermous, T., Rauramaa, R., Rivadeneira, F., Saaristo, T. E., Saleheen, D., Sattar, N., Schadt, E. E., Schlessinger, D., Eline Slagboom, P., Snieder, H., Spector, T. D., Thorsteinsdottir, U., Stumvoll, M., Tuomilehto, J., Uitterlinden, A. G., Uusitupa, M., van der Harst, P., Walker, M., Wallaschofski, H., Wareham, N. J., Watkins, H., Weir, D. R., Wichmann, H.-E., Wilson, J. F., Zanen, P., Borecki, I. B., Deloukas, P., Fox, C. S., Heid, I. M., O’Connell, J. R., Strachan, D. P., Stefansson, K., van Duijn, C. M., Abecasis, G. R., Franke, L., Frayling, T. M., McCarthy, M. I., Visscher, P. M., Scherag, A., Willer, C. J., Boehnke, M., Mohlke, K. L., Lindgren, C. M., Beckmann, J. S., Barroso, I., North, K. E., Ingelsson, E., Hirschhorn, J. N., Loos, R. J. F., Speliotes, E. K., and MAGIC Investigators,
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > Institute of Health and Wellbeing > Mental Health and Wellbeing; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > Institute of Health and Wellbeing > Robertson Centre; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > Institute of Biodiversity Animal Health and Comparative Medicine
• Journal Name: Nature
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• ISSN: 0028-0836
• ISSN (Online): 1476-4687