GENETICS OF OBESITY - AN UPDATE ON MOLECULAR MARKERS

Attempts to define the genetic basis of obesity in the present century probably began with the study of Davenport.(1) A number of papers were published on the topic based on weight for height data prior to the 1970s. Bray(2) has summarized these studies which quite consistently demonstrated that obese children had frequently obese parents. Following this period. the field of genetic epidemiology began to contribute new methods and research strategies in the efforts to define the genetic basis of quantitative multifactorial phenotypes. For the past 15 years or so, a good number of reports have been published regarding the heritability level and the segregation pattern of body mass for stature, and other indicators of obesity. These studies have been summarized recently.(3,4) The focus of this report is on animal and human studies providing evidence for a role of specific genes in human variation for indicators of obesity.