Studies in mice show that a mutation in a gene called Ovol2 causes obesity, according to a study published in the journal Cell Metabolism. Compared with their unmutated littermates, the obese mice had a 556 percent increase in fat mass and a 20 percent decrease in lean body mass. Experiments have shown that obese animals fail to maintain core body temperature when exposed to cold, which appears to be due to their inability to efficiently utilize a tissue called brown fat, whose primary function is to generate heat. Further tests showed that the healthy Ovol2 gene suppressed the development of white fat, the main tissue responsible for energy storage.
This article is reproduced from: https://www.solidot.org/story?sid=73199
This site is for inclusion only, and the copyright belongs to the original author.