A fattening gene
Wednesday, April 30, 2014 - 18:50
in Biology & Nature
This is a fatty liver with SIRT7. The microscope images show the liver tissue of control animals (left) and mice that lack the SIRT7 gene magnified by a factor of... The long-term consumption of too much high-energy and high-fat food leads to overweight. Behind this trivial statement lies the extremely complex regulation of lipid metabolism. Together with colleagues from Japan, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim have now discovered that the Sirt7 gene plays a central role in energy metabolism. Despite consuming high-fat food, genetically modified mice that lack the gene maintain their normal weight.