Where women’s bodies store fat is governed by a genetic variant that also influences the risk of developing type-2 diabetes, new research has found.
The research, presented at the American Society of Human Genetics, in Baltimore, discovered a gene called KLF14 appears to be a master regulator of how and where fat ends up.
Women with one particular “allele”, or version, of the gene tend to have slimmer hips, while women with another are more “pear-shaped”, the study claimed.
The gene variant appeared to regulate hundreds of other genes active in fat cells, changing the structure and function of those cells.
"At the whole-body level, these differences between alleles are not associated with changes to overall weight or body mass index, but they do affect women's hip circumference," said Kerrin Small, PhD, Head of the Genomics of Regulatory Variation Research Group at King's College London and lead author on the study.
The research also found women who have a “pear-shaped” body type, carrying more fat on their hips, are significantly less likely to develop type-2 diabetes than those with smaller hips.
Along with regulating body fat, the KLF14 gene also appears to affect people’s sensitivity to insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar, Dr Small found.
Type 2 diabetes develops when the body becomes less responsive to insulin, causing levels of both the hormone and blood sugar to soar.
"Looking at the variant we studied, large-scale genome-wide association studies show that women with one allele tend to have larger hips than women with the other one, which would have a protective effect against diabetes," she said. "Most genes that have been associated with type 2 diabetes are related to the pancreas. What's different about the KLF14 gene is that it's expressed in fat tissue."
Researchers first identified the relationship between the variant KLF14 gene and Type 2 diabetes risk in a large, genome-wide association study of a broad population.
The effect on diabetes risk was initially modest, but when Dr Small focused on a more specific population - women who inherited the gene variant from their mothers - the effect grew.
"These findings have important implications as we move toward more personalised approaches to disease detection and treatment," Dr Small said.
"If we can identify the genes and protein products involved in diabetes risk, even for a subset of people, we may be able to develop effective treatment and prevention approaches tailored to people in that group."
