title: Stable patterns of gene expression regulating carbohydrate metabolism determined by geographic ancestry.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: McAllister Heart Institute, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Schisler
authors.forename: Peter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Charles
authors.forename: Joel S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: Eleanor G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Hilliard
authors.forename: Sabeen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mapara
authors.forename: Dane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Meredith
authors.forename: Robert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Lineberger
authors.forename: Samuel S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Brian D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Alder
authors.forename: George A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Stouffer
authors.forename: Cam
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Patterson
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: C497387:SREBF1 protein, human; D051780:Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein 1; D014157:Transcription Factors; D005947:Glucose