title: Common variants in BDNF, FAIM2, FTO, MC4R, NEGR1, and SH2B1 show association with obesity-related variables in Spanish Roma population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study is to investigate the association between previously GWAS identified genetic variants predisposing to obesity in Europeans and obesity-related phenotypes in Roma population.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 24 representative single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped in 372 individuals belonging to 50 extended families of Roma population. SNPs were tested for association with seven quantitative obesity-related phenotypes in the PLINK program.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Risk variants in NEGR1, FAIM2, FTO, and SH2B1 genes were associated with increased adiposity accumulation in Roma population with effect sizes between 0.21 and 0.34 Z-scores for each copy of the BMI increasing allele. Additionally, variants in BDNF and MC4R were significantly associated with adiposity distribution but not with overall fatness. No significant association was detected between obesity-related phenotypes and variants in the first intron of the FTO gene (e.g., rs9939609).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study suggest that SNPs in or near six genes (BDNF, FAIM2, FTO, MC4R, NEGR1, and SH2B1) are significantly associated with body fat accumulation and distribution in Roma people. However, the association observed among variants in the first intron of FTO and obesity in European derived populations is not evident in the analyzed Roma sample.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Physical Anthropology and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), 48080, Bilbao, Spain.
authors.forename: Alaitz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poveda
authors.forename: María Eugenia
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ibáñez
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rebato
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity / Q000208:ethnology; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D006178:Romani People; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult