Obesity and Related Illnesses Can Be Turned Off

Approximately half a billion people in the world today are obese. Researchers from King's College London and the University of Oxford discovered that the KLF14 gene causes obesity and is linked to diabetes and cholesterol.  Fat samples were obtained from 776 female twins.  They found that the KLF14 gene acts as a trans controller as it influences the behavior of distant genes inside fat tissue.  KLF14 is inherited from the mother and father, however the fathers gene is turned off and only the mothers copy is expressed.  Scientists could use this information to improve treatment of obesity related disease and possibly turn them off simultaneously with the gene expression.