1. ¹Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
2. ²Departments of Genetics and Psychiatry, Division of Biostatistics, Washington University Medical School, St Louis, MO, USA
3. ³School of Kinesiology and Leisure Studies, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
4. ⁴Department of Kinesiology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
5. ⁵Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

Correspondence: G Argyropoulos, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 6400 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA. E-mail: argyrog@pbrc.edu

Received 3 April 2002; Revised 13 August 2002; Accepted 2 September 2002.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the impact of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (-38C>T) in the promoter of the human agouti-related protein (hAgRP) gene on promoter affinity for transcription factors (TFs) and its possible association with body composition phenotypes.

DESIGN: Electrophoretic mobility shift assays for the functional studies and association analyses for the population studies.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Nuclear extracts were isolated from the mouse hypothalamus cell line GT1-7 and subjected to binding assays using oligonucleotide probes corresponding to the -38C>T region and an antibody for the E12/E47 TFs. Individuals (n = 259) from the HERITAGE Family Study were genotyped for the -38C>T SNP and used in the association studies.

RESULTS: Electrophoretic mobility shift and supershift assays confirmed binding of the E12/E47 TF to the -38C>T site in a genotype-dependent manner. The T allele was found exclusively in the black subjects while the genotype with the higher binding affinity, CC, was significantly associated with high BMI, fat mass, and percent body fat in the black subjects of the HERITAGE Family Study.

CONCLUSIONS: The E12/E47 TF could play a role in the regulation of hAgRP expression while the population studies suggest that the TT genotype of the -38C>T SNP could play a protective role against the development of obesity in the black population of the HERITAGE Family Study.