Brain 'master switch' controls reproduction, weight

Tag : switch

MedWire News : Scientists are closer to understanding the links between bodyweight and fertility after finding a genetic "master switch" thatinfluences both.
Although the switch was characterized in the brains of mice, leadstudy author Marc Montminy from the Clayton Foundation Laboratoriesfor Peptide Biology in La Jolla, San Diego, California, USA, notedthat, "because this gene is crucial to the daisy chain of signalsthat run between body fat and the brain, it likely plays a pivotalrole in how much we, as humans, eat and whether we have offspring."
Montminy and colleagues discovered the gene, known as TORC1 , while studying appetite-regulating hormones such as leptin thatcarry information from fat tissues to the brain.
The investigators studied mice lacking TORC and found that these animals rapidly became obese after birth andwere usually infertile.
Further study showed that TORC1 responds to leptin by up-regulating the Cocaine and AmphetamineRegulated Transcript gene ( CART ), which suppresses appetite, and turning on the KISS1 gene, which is essential for normal reproductive function.
In the absence of leptin, therefore, appetite is not adequatelysuppressed and reproductive functioning is abnormal, theresearchers explain.
They conclude that, since TORC1 is kinase regulated, it should makea good target for therapeutic intervention to treat both obesityand infertility.
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