Decoding Obesity
Shirin Saha
The obesity crisis in America and Europe is rising. Scientist say that by 2030, over one billion adults will be overweight or obese. Genetic studies have led to the discovery of the FTO gene which encodes for the nucleic acid demethylase. Demethylase has been strongly linked to obesity. European carriers that are homozygous (meaning that they have both alleles for the gene) for the FTO gene are, on average, 7 pounds heavier than those who are non-carriers. Church Et Al conducted a study where they created mice with one or two extra copies of the FTO gene and found that the mice with one copy have a 42% increase in fat mass compared to the mice who don’t carry the gene. The mice with two copies had an 85% increase. The study also found that the FTO-carrying mice have a greater inclination for food and an impaired glucose tolerance, which is linked to type 2 diabetes. The discovery of the FTO gene and its properties have introduced scientists to the possible development of an anti-obesity medication.
Questions:
Do the FTOs have a neurological impact which causes carriers to have more food cravings or an anatomical impact which causes an abnormal uptake of food?
Could genetic engineering remove the FTO gene?
Is the FTO gene linked to heart disease and cancer, other diseases related to obesity?
Links:
Picture- https://www.foxnews.com/health/most-obese-states-in-us
Article- https://stm.sciencemag.org/content/2/62/62ec194
I do think that possibly the FTOs could have a neurological impact to cause increased cravings. It could also ne possible to remove it with GE but at the same time we need to look at what FTO does and if it will be deadly to remove or cause worsened health. And the FTO gene could be linked as a stepping stone to these.
ReplyDelete-Tyler A.
Thank you for sharing this is very interesting! I understand that this is an exciting discovery that could have tremendous health benefits, however, I can't imagine that without regulations put in place for genetic engineering that this would be a good idea. There is a very fine line between modifying for health and modifying for ideal traits.
ReplyDeleteCarissa Bersche
I think this new discovery is beneficial to helping us understand more about obesity and how we can resolve the obesity crisis. However, when it comes to any type of gene editing, there are many things to consider. For example, who would regulate this? The government, a government supported organization, or something else completely different? Also, if this was available to the public, the majority of the people who have the funds and the means to get this done are the upper class, leaving lower class people at a disadvantage. It would only broaden the gap between our social and economic classes. Lots of things to consider, thanks for sharing such a cool topic to discuss!
ReplyDeleteTrinity Mathis
Maybe the FTO gene changes the amount of hormones in the gut, there's this hormone called ghrelin that communicates with your brain and tells you how hungry you are. So I think that if that is what FTO does than genetic engineering could be used to remove the gene.
ReplyDelete-Ilori Tankpinou
I think genetic engineering could work but what I'm thinking is with genetic engineering what will happen to future generations and if this could do more harm than good if we were to remove the genes
ReplyDeleteFTO is part of a family of enzymes involved in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) repair, fatty acid metabolism, and posttranslational modifications, and functional studies suggest that FTO is involved in nucleic acid demethylation. The removal of the FTO gene might be possible but there could be some health effects beyond just obesity. FTO appears to only be related to obesity and not associated diseases. - Nathan Clark
ReplyDeleteI believe that the genetic engineering could work, but I wonder what health effects or even abuse could come from this. Will people abuse the genetic engineering, how would this affect future generations if this does work will it be normalized?
ReplyDelete-Raquel Morgens
When I looked FTO to learn more about it, and one website I was on said the gene plays a big role in cardiovascular disease.
ReplyDelete