Pig model for human overeating and obesity
The SYSGEN OF OBESITY (Systems genetics of obesity and related metabolic traits in pig model to improve human health) project has worked on specially bred pigs to investigate the genomics of obesity and related diseases. Three generations of crossing fatty Göttingen minipigs genetically predisposed to obesity with production pigs that are bred to be lean produced around 600 animals for the study. The researchers collected data on 50 different OMSD traits on these 600 pigs. The pigs were phenotyped and genotyped using genome-wide DNA arrays. A biobank stored 24 different types of tissue sample, blood for DNA extraction as well as faeces and urine snap frozen from all animals. All data were then analysed using state-of-the-art statistical genetics and bioinformatics methods to quantify genetic differences between pigs and to identify genes and molecular pathways for obesity and eating behaviour. Results show substantial genetic variation in obesity. This confirms that the cross breeding design has created a resource population with the potential to produce a significantly sound genetic background for OMSD traits. Research has also uncovered many genes affecting the OMSD phenotypes. Altogether the researchers identified 229 quantitative trait loci associated with adiposity- and metabolic phenotypes at genome-wide significant levels. Several candidate genes in 18 of these regions influence body mass index and fatness traits. Extending these results identified genes and highly predictive biomarkers in humans with OMSD by comparing pig-human systems biology and genomics. Combination with metabolic pathway profiling may reveal complex mechanisms that give rise to individual differences in development of OMSD. The SYSGEN OF OBESITY team also integrated the transcriptome data from more than 22 000 genes with some 60 000 DNA markers to find the genetic culprits behind OMSD. Using an integrated systems genetic approach, the researchers also looked at mechanisms involved in these metabolic disorders. Peer-reviewed journals including PLoS One, Genome Medicine, BMC Systems Biology and BMC Medical Genomics have featured research results for all obesity related traits such as weight, growth, body fat and body composition. Major newspapers then followed with articles, the original being Why Do Humans Pig Out(opens in new window).
