Sequence Variation within the Neuropeptide Y Gene and Obesity in Mexican Americans

OBJECTIVE: Recently, we reported evidence for linkage between neuropeptide Y (NPY) and both obesity and several obesity-related quantitative measures in a sample of Mexican Americans from Starr County, Texas. The purpose of this study was to investigate putative variation within the coding and promoter regions of NPY. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Five young, obese individuals (body mass index [BMI] 33 to 45 kg/m2, age 14 to 30 years); five adult, lean individuals (BMI 20 to 26 kg/m2, age 39 to 65 years); and five sibling pairs sharing no alleles that were identical by descent at a marker locus proximal to NPY were selected for fluorescence-based sequencing of approximately 1100 base pairs (bp) immediately 5' from the start site and all four exons of NPY. We identified a total of eight variant sites, including a 2-bp insertion/deletion (I/D) within a putative negative regulatory region (-880I/D) and a 17-bp deletion at the exon 1/intron 1 junction (69I/D). The -880I/D and 69I/D variants were typed in a separate random sample of Mexican Americans (N = 914) from Starr County, Texas. RESULTS: Analyses of variance resulted in a significant association between -880I/D and waist-to-hip ratio (p = 0.041) in the entire sample and between -880I/D and BMI (p = 0.031), abdominal circumference (p = 0.044), and waist-to-hip ratio (p = 0.041) in a non-obese subsample (BMI < 30 kg/m2, n = 594). The 69I/D variant was observed in only one pedigree and does not appear to segregate with obesity within this pedigree. DISCUSSION: This study reports newly identified common human sequence variation within the regulatory and coding sequence of NPY. Several variants were observed, and of those tested, the -880I/D promoter region variant may influence body fat patterning in non-obese individuals but does not appear to play a major role in the etiology of common forms of obesity in this population.