It’s a discovery that may lead to new ways to fight obesity and diabetes - a gene that keeps mice and fruit flies lean.
A graduate student at Yale University actually discovered the gene in fat fruit flies more than 50 years ago but few people knew about it.
Now researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have finally found the function of the gene, called adipose. They say it makes mice fat when it’s manipulated one way… and thin when it’s manipulated another way. Humans also carry the gene, and researchers think it would work in the same way. The new research is published in the journal, Cell Metabolism.
The study shows adipose is likely to be a major master switch that tells the body whether to accumulate or burn fat. Results show increasing the gene’s activity in mice improved their health in many ways - they ate as much or more than normal mice but they were leaner, had diabetes-resistant fat cells, and were better able to control insulin and blood-sugar metabolism. But mice with reduced adipose activity were fatter, less healthy and had diabetes.
When researchers studied fruit flies, they found the gene is “dose sensitive” - similar to a volume control instead of a light switch because it can be turned up or down, not just on or off.
Researchers say the next step is to better understand the exact mechanisms of adipose. And eventually, develop drugs to help prevent obesity and diabetes.
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