Endocrine Abstracts

In 2007 a genome wide association study linked SNPs in intron 1 of FTO with an increased body mass index. Individuals with the ‘risk’ allele are on average 3 kg heavier than those with the ‘protective’ allele. Furthermore, those with the ‘risk’ allele have demonstrated greater energy intake. Mouse models of FTO have been generated including a conditional overexpression allele of FTO, which has 2 additional copies of FTO (FTO-4). These mice have in...