Page 45 - GTM-2-2

Global Translational Medicine

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Association between the FTO polymorphic

variants and obesity in the Belarusian population

1
Maxim D. Ameliyanovich , Maxim L. Lushchyk , Irma B. Mosse *, and
1
2
Larisa I. Danilova 2
1 Institute of Genetics and Cytology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Minsk, Republic
of Belarus
2 Belarusian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education, Minsk, Republic of Belarus

Abstract

Overweight and obesity refer to the abnormal and excessive deposition of adipose
tissue in the human body causing significant harm to health. Unfortunately, there
has always been a persisting upward trend in the number of overweight people.
The development of obesity may be caused by a combination of excessive food
intake, low physical activity, and a hereditary predisposition to it. Studies of the
genotypes of obese individuals allowed identifying a number of polymorphic
variants of genes that contribute to a genetic predisposition to an excessive weight
gain. One of the most significant predictors of obesity is the FTO gene (a fat mass
and obesity-associated gene). Genotyping of 655 representatives of the Republic
of Belarus was carried out for 13 polymorphic variants of the FTO gene. Genomic
DNA extraction was carried out from the peripheral venous blood samples. Real-
time PCR was performed for the evaluation of polymorphic variants of the FTO gene.
A significant association of the genotype with the body mass index was observed in
*Corresponding author: eight polymorphic variants of the FTO gene: In the carriers of minor homozygotes
Irma B. Mosse
(i.mosse@igc.by) of polymorphic variants rs11075990, rs1121980, rs1421085, rs17817449, rs3751812,
rs9939609, rs9940128, and rs9941349, the body mass index (BMI) was much higher
Citation: Ameliyanovich MD,
Lushchyk ML, Mosse IB, et al., compared with the carriers of corresponding major homozygotes P = 0.0022 – 0.021.
2023, Association between the FTO An analysis of the linkage disequilibrium of 13 polymorphic variants of the FTO gene
polymorphic variants and obesity in was carried out. It was found that eight polymorphic variants of the FTO gene for
the Belarusian population. Global
Transl Med, 2(2): 352. which a statistically significant association with BMI was shown constitute one block
2
https://doi.org/10.36922/gtm.352 of linkage disequilibrium (r = 0.82 – 1.0, P < 0.001) and form two most common
haplotypes: A/G/T/T/G/T/G/C (51.9%) and G/A/C/G/T/A/A/T (42.8%). Therefore,
Received: February 3, 2023
Accepted: March 27, 2023 to determine the risk for obesity development, it is sufficient to conduct genetic
Published Online: April 10, 2023 testing for one of these polymorphic variants. This greatly facilitates the process of
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s). determining a genetic predisposition to excess weight.
This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution Keywords: Obesity; Body mass index; FTO polymorphic variants; Polymerase chain reaction
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is
properly cited.
1. Introduction
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with Overweight and obesity refer to abnormal and excessive deposition of adipose tissue in
regard to jurisdictional claims in [1]
published maps and institutional the human body, causing significant harm to health . The most commonly used method
affiliations. for determining obesity in adults is the calculation of body mass index (BMI) ― the

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2023) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/gtm.352