Wired for Obesity: Genes Involved in Development Can Affect Body Weight

Summary: Study reveals people with obesity have more mutations in semaphorin signaling in the hypothalamus, implying semaphorins may be critical for maintaining a healthy body weight.

Source: Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

Leading a unique, collaborative research study with scientists across the globe, investigators at the University of Cambridge and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles have pinpointed a set of molecules that wire the body weight center of the brain.

In a study published January 17th in the journal Cell, Sadaf Farooqi, PhD, FRCP, FMedSci, of the University of Cambridge and CHLA’s Sebastien Bouret, PhD led research teams to uncover key genes that guide the process of brain development.

“We know that the brain, in particular an area called the hypothalamus, has a very important role in the regulation of food intake and blood sugar,” explains Bouret, who is also an associate professor of pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Researchers have focused on the hypothalamus for years in an effort to study the epidemic of obesity, which affects nearly 14 million children and adolescents in the United States. “What we don’t yet understand,” he says, “is how these circuits in the hypothalamus are being organized. We want to know how the brain puts itself together and what exactly governs that process.” Understanding this is key because circuits must be established properly in order for the brain to ultimately perform complex functions like maintaining proper weight.

Why do certain brain cells connect to one area while specifically avoiding other, nearby cells? Bouret’s laboratory investigates how this precise wiring is achieved. Understanding how brain cells in the hypothalamus form these specific, complex connections – and how this process can be adversely affected – could provide insight into the development of childhood obesity.

hypothalamus cells
Bouret studied a group of molecules called semaphorins, which are found in abundance in the developing hypothalamus. NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to Sebastien Bouret.

Bouret studied a group of molecules called semaphorins, which are found in abundance in the developing hypothalamus. Brain cells release semaphorins to communicate with other brain cells. These messages act as a sort of road map, guiding cells towards or away from other cells. But what happens to the brain when that road map is no longer functioning properly? Dr. Sophie Croizier, who led the study in Bouret’s lab, blocked semaphorin signaling in cells of the hypothalamus. She discovered that brain cells no longer grew the way they were supposed to, showing that semaphorin provides an essential map for them to follow. In addition to connections failing to establish, loss of semaphorin action in a preclinical model also caused elevated body weight. “What we are seeing is that semaphorins are guiding and shaping development of hypothalamic circuits that ultimately regulate calorie intake,” explains Bouret.

But the story does not stop here.

Professor Farooqi from the University of Cambridge was also analyzing genetic information from individuals with obesity. Farooqi’s team tested 1,000 DNA samples and found that individuals with early-onset obesity had more rare mutations in genes involved in semaphorin signaling than healthy individuals. The finding that people with obesity have rare mutations in semaphorin signaling shows that semaphorins are important in maintaining healthy body weight. “We have now discovered the genes that establish the precise neural connections that form these circuits,” says Dr. Agatha van der Klaauw, who led the study in Farooqi’s lab and is co-first author on the paper. “This work provides new insights into the development of hypothalamic circuits that regulate appetite and metabolism.”

This multifaceted study reveals a much clearer picture of what occurs in the developing brain. Semaphorin signaling appears to shape the physical architecture of the brain and influence circuitry governing body weight.

About this neuroscience research article

Other authors on the study are: co-first author Sophie Croizier and Soyoung Park, both of the Saban Research Institute of CHLA: Edson Mendes de Oliveira, Lukas K.J. Stadler, Matthew C. Banton, Julia M. Keogh, Sofia Papadia, Elana Henning, Rebecca Bounds, Elena G. Bochukova, Vanisha Mistry, Stephen O’Rahilly, and InĂªs Barroso, all of the University of Cambridge; Richard Simerly, of Vanderbilt University; Youxin Kong and E. Yvonne Jones, of the University of Oxford; Panna Tandon, Susanna E. Riley, and James E. N. Minchin of the University of Edinburgh; Audrey E. Hendricks of the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge and the University of Colorado.

Funding: This work was supported in the UK by the Wellcome Trust, NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre and Bernard Wolfe Health Neuroscience Fund and in the US by the National Institutes of Health.

Source: Melinda Smith – Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to Sebastien Bouret.
Original Research: Open access research for “Human Semaphorin 3 Variants Link Melanocortin Circuit Development and Energy Balance” by Bouret et al. in Cell. Published January 15 2019.
doi:10.1016/j.cell.2018.12.009

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles”Wired for Obesity: Genes Involved in Development Can Affect Body Weight.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 17 January 2019.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/development-genes-obesity-10566/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles(2019, January 17). Wired for Obesity: Genes Involved in Development Can Affect Body Weight. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved January 17, 2019 from https://neurosciencenews.com/development-genes-obesity-10566/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles”Wired for Obesity: Genes Involved in Development Can Affect Body Weight.” https://neurosciencenews.com/development-genes-obesity-10566/ (accessed January 17, 2019).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

Human Semaphorin 3 Variants Link Melanocortin Circuit Development and Energy Balance

Hypothalamic melanocortin neurons play a pivotal role in weight regulation. Here, we examined the contribution of Semaphorin 3 (SEMA3) signaling to the development of these circuits. In genetic studies, we found 40 rare variants in SEMA3A-G and their receptors (PLXNA1-4; NRP1-2) in 573 severely obese individuals; variants disrupted secretion and/or signaling through multiple molecular mechanisms. Rare variants in this set of genes were significantly enriched in 982 severely obese cases compared to 4,449 controls. In a zebrafish mutagenesis screen, deletion of 7 genes in this pathway led to increased somatic growth and/or adiposity demonstrating that disruption of Semaphorin 3 signaling perturbs energy homeostasis. In mice, deletion of the Neuropilin-2 receptor in Pro-opiomelanocortin neurons disrupted their projections from the arcuate to the paraventricular nucleus, reduced energy expenditure, and caused weight gain. Cumulatively, these studies demonstrate that SEMA3-mediated signaling drives the development of hypothalamic melanocortin circuits involved in energy homeostasis.

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