Study examines genetic switches linked to obesity and alcohol abuse
Scientists at the University of Aberdeen have secured more than £400,000 in funding to research genetic switches linked to obesity and alcohol abuse.
Scientists at the University of Aberdeen have secured more than £400,000 in funding to research genetic switches linked to obesity and alcohol abuse.
The switches act as a regulatory function in the body to make sure proteins produced by genes are made in the right cells, at the right time and with the right signals.
The £412,200 grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) will go towards a study examining these switches and how environmental factors such as social deprivation and poverty in childhood interact with genetics to affect how they operate in later life.
There has been mounting evidence to suggest that mutations in gene switches, and not the genes themselves, are the main causes of human illness, according to researchers.
Dr Alasdair MacKenzie, an expert in genomics and metabolism at the university, said: "Most people have genes that are perfectly fine, but in many people these healthy genes are turned on or off at the wrong time due to mutations within the switches that control them, and this could play a role in disease progression.
"Therefore understanding these gene switches and how they are affected by mutations and the environment are absolutely crucial in our understanding of health and disease.
"We will start by looking at the switches that control the production of a protein called galanin.
"Too much galanin production in an area of the brain called the hypothalamus increases the desire to consume fatty food and alcohol.
"We have found the switch that controls galanin production in the hypothalamus and have evidence that genetic mutations and environmental factors interact at this switch to change its activity.
"We will explore the possibility that these changes contribute to alcohol abuse or excess fat intake in humans."
The study will use a technique called CRISPR genome editing which will allow the group to alter gene switches in mice in weeks rather than years whilst testing the effects on fat and alcohol intake.