A team of researchers has identified multiple genes in British retrievers farmers who are associated with canine obesity and also relate to the obesity In humans.
The DEND1B canine gene is the one that is most strongly associated with obesity in the farmers, and is also present in humans. This gene directly affects a cerebral route responsible for regulating the energy balance in the body, called via leptin-melanocortine.
The team also directly mapped four other genes associated with canine obesity, but with a lower effect than the DEND1B.
“These genes are not obvious objectives immediate But the results highlight the importance of fundamental brain paths to control appetite and body weight”, Explained Alyce McClellan, researcher at the University of Cambridge and main co -author of the report.
In addition, the study discovered that dogs with high genetic risk of obesity had more interest in food, but if the owners controlled their diet and exercise, dogs could avoid obesity, just as it happens with people likely to gain weight.
And as is also the case with human obesity, no gene determined whether dogs were prone to it. It was the combined effect of multiple genetic variants that determined whether the risk of dogs was high or low.
The results are published today in the journal Science.
Obesity, an epidemic
The current human obesity epidemic has its reflection in dogs: Between 40 and 60 % of domestic dogs are overweight or are obese.
Dogs are a good model to study human obesity because they develop obesity through environmental influences similar to those of humans.
“Studying dogs taught us something very important: the owners of thin dogs are not morally superior, just as it happens with thin people. If you have a high genetic risk of obesity and there is a lot of food available, you tend to eat excessively and to gain weight unless you make a great effort to not do it”, Said Eleanor Raffan, researcher at Cambridge and director of the study.
To do the study, the team recruited dog owners to whom it measured its body fat, scored its degree of “greed” and took a saliva sample to analyze the DNA; Then they analyzed their dog’s genetics.
When comparing the dog’s obesity state with its DNA, they were able to identify the genes related to canine obesity.
The carrying dogs of the genetic variant most associated with obesity, DEND1B, had about 8 % more body fat than those who did not have it.
This work not only demonstrates how similar dogs are genetically to humans, but has served to better understand how our brain controls eating behavior and energy use, the study concluded.