원문정보
초록
영어
Obesity caused by excessive fat accretion in adipose tissue or the whole body is a major health issue in a significant portion of the US population. Economically, the CDC estimates that the US spends $147 billion annually in extra health costs related to obesity. In the poultry industry, decreasing 1% of body fat in the chicken is valued at a total of $30 million per year. The recent advances in bioinformatics and DNA microarray technology allow rapid genetic analysis to take place on a genome-wide scale and have revolutionized the way specific diseases are studied. Our comparative analysis of microarray data across animal species led us to identify several novel adipose tissue-specific genes and demonstrate functions of these genes in adipose development. Because genetics and developmental aspects of adipocyte biology are highly conserved across species, animals including the quail provided excellent models to understand the function of these genes in adipocyte development and lipid metabolism. This approach of studying obesity promises to provide a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms responsible for obesity and to discover new candidate genes and their signaling pathways, leading to the development of more effective therapeutic and nutraceutical interventions.