CNVs in Obesity among Caucasians

CNVs in Obesity among Caucasians 1
A CRITICAL REVIEW: CNVs IN OBESITY AMONG CAUCASIANS
By [Name]
Course
Professor’s Name
Institution
Location of Institution
Date

CNVs in Obesity among Caucasians 2
Introduction
Obesity is defined as an abnormal accumulation of fats that is risky to the overall health
of an individual (WHO, 2015). Health specialists measure the Body Mass Index (BMI) to
determine whether an individual is obese, overweight or has an average weight. BMI is
calculated by dividing the weight of a person by the square of the height. An individual with
30kg/m2 of BMI is obese. Obesity is a risk factor for numerous complications like cancer,
cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes (Esser et al., 2014). Copy Number Variation (CNS),
especially the Amylase Gene (AMY1) in the saliva either increases or lowers the chances of
obesity among the Caucasians. This paper will critically review CNVs in obesity among the
Caucasians.
Subject Characteristics
In the first article, the investigators selected a population of young adults from Portugal
to establish the relationship between CNVs and Obesity. The study involved 262 participants.
Out of the total number, 107 individuals were males while the remaining 155 participants were
females (Pinho, Padez, and Manco, 2018). The mean age of the participants was 21.08. Out of
the total number of participants, 22 individuals fall under the obese category. The obese
individuals had a BMI of 30kg/m2 or more than that measurement (Di Angelantonio et al., 2016).
64 participants were overweight according to the cut-off points that WHO defined. According to
WHO, an overweight individual is one with a BMI ranging from 25kg/m2 to 29.9kg/m2 (Mata,
and Jasul 2017). The remaining 176 individuals acted as a control to the experiment. In the
second article, the subjects included 207 Canadians with 96 of them being males and the rest
females (Voll et al., 2017). The median age of the participants was 26.7 years. The researchers
relied on molecular methods to confirm the 22q11.2 deletions. In the third article, the study

CNVs in Obesity among Caucasians 3
population comprised of 779 Italian Children (Marcovecchio et al., 2016). Out of the 779
children, 744 accepted to take part in the survey. Therefore, there were 390 girls and 354 boys.
The average age of the participants was approximately 8.4 years. The investigators applied
molecular methods to determine the content of AMY1 in the participants. In the forth article,
group of subject consisted of 435 individuals with obesity (Hasstedt et al., 2015). The
participants had a BMI of 35.5kg/m2 and above. The experiment aimed to establish the
relationship between obesity and ARFRP1.
Technological Platforms used
In the first article, the researchers extracted DNA from the participants, the amplified the
genetic materials using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) kits. The investigators started by
using TaqMan assays to target the AMY1 gene (Pinho et al., 2018). The RNASE assay, which
acts a reference helped in the evaluation of the quantity of AMY1 in the ddPCR system. After
obtaining the DNA samples from the participants, the researchers digested them to separate the
tandem copies. In the second article, the researchers applied standard molecular ways to confirm
the 22q11.2 deletion. To determine the relationship between low AMY1 and obesity in the third
article, the researchers extracted DNA from saliva samples (Marcovecchio et al., 2016). The
researchers extracted DNA using QIAmp kit. Furthermore, the investigators used quantitative
PCR to amplify the AMY1 copies. The qPCR contained two TaqMan assays. To establish the
relationship between obesity and ARFRP1 in the fourth article, the researchers applied dublex
TaqMan assay and qPCR (Hasstedt et al., 2015). The researchers used QIAmp Blood kit to
extract DNA. The investigators performed Microassay analysis and scanned the slides using a
scanner called RocheNimblegenMS200Microarray.
Genetic Variants and their Functional Consequences