Obesity and genes

Obesity has become a worldwide epidemic, and dramatic changes in lifestyle (increased caloric intake and decreased exercise) are without a doubt the most important reason. However, during the past few decades it has become evident that genes also influence obesity status, and increasing effort is being made to identify genes and genetic variants of importance to obesity.

A mutation in a gene/genetic element (eg transcription factor, regulatory factor) may alter the gene’s original function, causing an increased tendency for obesity. Also an alteration in the expression level of genes may affect the obesity status. Therefore, both mutation studies and expression studies are relevant when investigating the genetic background of obesity. In particular, searching for genes that are differently expressed in obese and lean individuals can give valuable data because these genes may play an important role in obesity.

Pig as a model

When studying obesity, the pig is preferred as a model as it resembles humans in several ways: body and organ size, diet composition, eating habits, physiology and genome. Moreover, the use of an animal model provides the possibility of controlled mating and diet, and also unlimited sampling; which are the usual limitations in human studies.