Review

Fat Mass and Obesity-Associated Gene: Biological Functions and Relevance to Animal Production

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  • College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China

Received date: 2014-05-09

  Online published: 2014-11-17

Abstract

Since fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene was discovered, rapid progress has been made in the studies of biological functions of FTO gene. FTO gene widely exists in the various animals, and is expressed in different tissues of animals with the highest level of expression in the hypothalamus. The major role of FTO gene is to regulate appetite and energy metabolism in the hypothalamus, however, its role in other tissues remains unclear. Moreover, it is required to understand how FTO protein plays its biological functions as a nucleic acid modifying enzyme. Data indicated that the nucleotide polymorphism of FTO gene was not only strongly associated with obesity and obesity-related traits (e.g., body mass index, waist circumference, waist to hip ratio, upper arm width, and upper arm circumference), but also associated with obesity-induced diseases including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer, etc. In addition, FTO gene has influences on animal growth and development, energy homeostasis, fat metabolism, inflammatory reaction, and cancer cell proliferation, etc. This review summarized the biological functions of FTO gene and its relevance to animal production.

Cite this article

XIA Lili, YANG Biao, WANG Qianqian, ZHOU Gang, GONG Daoqing, GENG Tuoyu . Fat Mass and Obesity-Associated Gene: Biological Functions and Relevance to Animal Production[J]. Chinese Journal of Animal Nutrition, 2014 , 26(11) : 3222 -3228 . DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1006-267x.2014.11.006

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