Stable patterns of gene expression regulating carbohydrate metabolism determined by geographic ancestry.
BACKGROUND
Individuals of African descent in the United States suffer disproportionately from diseases with a metabolic etiology (obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes), and from the pathological consequences of these disorders (hypertension and cardiovascular disease).


RESULTS
Using a combination of genetic/genomic and bioinformatics approaches, we identified a large number of genes that were both differentially expressed between American subjects self-identified to be of either African or European ancestry and that also contained single nucleotide polymorphisms that distinguish distantly related ancestral populations. Several of these genes control the metabolism of simple carbohydrates and are direct targets for the SREBP1, a metabolic transcription factor also differentially expressed between our study populations.


CONCLUSIONS
These data support the concept of stable patterns of gene transcription unique to a geographic ancestral lineage. Differences in expression of several carbohydrate metabolism genes suggest both genetic and transcriptional mechanisms contribute to these patterns and may play a role in exacerbating the disproportionate levels of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease observed in Americans with African ancestry.
Schisler
Jonathan C
JC
McAllister Heart Institute, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Charles
Peter C
PC
Parker
Joel S
JS
Hilliard
Eleanor G
EG
Mapara
Sabeen
S
Meredith
Dane
D
Lineberger
Robert E
RE
Wu
Samuel S
SS
Alder
Brian D
BD
Stouffer
George A
GA
Patterson
Cam
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism / Q000235:genetics*; D003710:Demography; D004194:Disease / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics; D005789:Genealogy and Heraldry; D005843:Geography; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics; D044382:Population Groups / Q000235:genetics; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D051780:Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein 1; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D055815:Young Adult
C497387:SREBF1 protein, human; D051780:Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein 1; D014157:Transcription Factors; D005947:Glucose