Common variants near MC4R are associated with fat mass, weight and risk of obesity

To identify common variants influencing body mass index (BMI), we analyzed genome-wide association data from 16,876 individuals of European descent. After previously reported variants in FTO, the strongest association signal (rs17782313, P = 2.9 x 10(-6)) mapped 188 kb downstream of MC4R (melanocortin-4 receptor), mutations of which are the leading cause of monogenic severe childhood-onset obesity. We confirmed the BMI association in 60,352 adults (per-allele effect = 0.05 Z-score units; P = 2.8 x 10(-15)) and 5,988 children aged 7-11 (0.13 Z-score units; P = 1.5 x 10(-8)). In case-control analyses (n = 10,583), the odds for severe childhood obesity reached 1.30 (P = 8.0 x 10(-11)). Furthermore, we observed overtransmission of the risk allele to obese offspring in 660 families (P (pedigree disequilibrium test average; PDT-avg) = 2.4 x 10(-4)). The SNP location and patterns of phenotypic associations are consistent with effects mediated through altered MC4R function. Our findings establish that common variants near MC4R influence fat mass, weight and obesity risk at the population level and reinforce the need for large-scale data integration to identify variants influencing continuous biomedical traits.     

Common variants near TARDBP and EGR2 are associated with susceptibility to Ewing sarcoma

Ewing sarcoma, a pediatric tumor characterized by EWSR1-ETS fusions, is predominantly observed in populations of European ancestry. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 401 French individuals with Ewing sarcoma, 684 unaffected French individuals and 3,668 unaffected individuals of European descent and living in the United States. We identified candidate risk loci at 1p36.22, 10q21 and 15q15. We replicated these loci in two independent sets of cases and controls. Joint analysis identified associations with rs9430161 (P = 1.4 × 10(-20); odds ratio (OR) = 2.2) located 25 kb upstream of TARDBP, rs224278 (P = 4.0 × 10(-17); OR = 1.7) located 5 kb upstream of EGR2 and, to a lesser extent, rs4924410 at 15q15 (P = 6.6 × 10(-9); OR = 1.5). The major risk haplotypes were less prevalent in Africans, suggesting that these loci could contribute to geographical differences in Ewing sarcoma incidence. TARDBP shares structural similarities with EWSR1 and FUS, which encode RNA binding proteins, and EGR2 is a target gene of EWSR1-ETS. Variants at these loci were associated with expression levels of TARDBP, ADO (encoding cysteamine dioxygenase) and EGR2.     

Truncating mutations in the last exon of NOTCH2 cause a rare skeletal disorder with osteoporosis

Hajdu-Cheney syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant skeletal disorder with facial anomalies, osteoporosis and acro-osteolysis. We sequenced the exomes of six unrelated individuals with this syndrome and identified heterozygous nonsense and frameshift mutations in NOTCH2 in five of them. All mutations cluster to the last coding exon of the gene, suggesting that the mutant mRNA products escape nonsense-mediated decay and that the resulting truncated NOTCH2 proteins act in a gain-of-function manner.     

Variation in FTO contributes to childhood obesity and severe adult obesity

We identified a set of SNPs in the first intron of the FTO (fat mass and obesity associated) gene on chromosome 16q12.2 that is consistently strongly associated with early-onset and severe obesity in both adults and children of European ancestry with an experiment-wise P value of 1.67 x 10(-26) in 2,900 affected individuals and 5,100 controls. The at-risk haplotype yields a proportion of attributable risk of 22% for common obesity. We conclude that FTO contributes to human obesity and hence may be a target for subsequent functional analyses.     

与小麦赤霉病抗性紧密连锁的基于AFLP片段的STS标记开发(英文)

DNA序列标签位点(STS)是一个操作简便和花费低的分子标记体系,将与某一性状密切连锁的AFLP(扩增片段长度多态性)片段转换成STS标记可直接用于分子育种工作中.本研究利用Ning 7840和Clark的重组自交系及AFLP技术,探测到一个与小麦赤霉病抗性紧密连锁的坐落在染色体3BS的主效数量特性位点(QTL),发现5个Pstl-AFLP片段与该QTL显著关联;其中2个片段与赤霉病抗性达到50%左右的表型变异解析度,一个为35个碱基的相引相片段,另一个为222个碱基的相斥相片段.222个碱基的DNA片段被克隆和测序,发现11个克隆中含有5种不同的DNA序列,其中一种序列在5个克隆中完全一致,该序列被用来作为设计STS标记的DNA模板.经多次实验,开发出了一个共显性STS标记.该STS标记与原222个碱基的AFLP片段谱带(banding pattern)完全一致,具有鉴别小麦育种材料赤霉病抗病强弱和加速抗病育种进程的潜力.     

感冒双解颗粒解热作用研究

目的 研究感冒双解颗粒解热作用.方法 采用大鼠干酵母和家兔细菌内毒素解热模型,给予高、中、低剂量的感冒双解颗粒浸膏粉,观察感冒双解颗粒对发热模型动物体温的影响,考察解热作用强度及时程.结果 感冒双解颗粒浸膏粉高剂量组(1.7g浸膏粉/kg)在给药后1.5～4 h能明显抑制干酵母模型大鼠体温升高,降温幅度约为0.7℃,而...