DNA spiral in a test tube
A team of researchers, led by King's College London and the University of Oxford, have found that a gene linked to type 2 diabetes and cholesterol levels is in fact a 'master regulator' gene, which controls the behaviour of other genes found within fat in the body. As fat plays a key role in susceptibility to metabolic diseases such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes, this study highlights the regulatory gene as a possible target for future treatments to fight these diseases. Published today , the study was one part of a large multi-national collaboration funded by the Wellcome Trust, known as the MuTHER study. It involves researchers from King's College London, University of Oxford, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and the University of Geneva. DeCODE Genetics also contributed to the results reported in this paper. It was already known that the KLF14 gene is linked to type 2 diabetes and cholesterol levels but, until now, how it did this and the role it played in controlling other genes located further away on the genome was unknown. The researchers examined over 20,000 genes in subcutaneous fat biopsies from 800 UK female twin volunteers.
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