The Omics of Obesity The Omics of Obesity

Abstract

Obesity is a complex multi‐faceted disease affecting billions of people worldwide. Traditionally, obesity was thought to be a consequence of having access to energy dense food and busy lifestyles that do not factor in sufficient physical activity. Although diet and exercise play a major role in obesity development, these are not the only contribu-tors. It is widely accepted that genetic and epigenetic factors also play a major role in obesity development and these in turn affect the lipidome, metabolome and proteome. With new technological advances, it is now possible to delve into these specific areas to further understand the mechanisms involved in obesity development. These technologies are collectively termed “omics” technologies, and this chapter will summarise the recent advances in obesity and metabolism research and describe new technologies that have been used to identify mechanisms that play a major role in the development of obesity. In particular, we will examine the different omics platforms that are available and have been used to study obesity. Collectively, these studies will be fundamental in identifying new and effective treatment strategies. CD38 cg17287155 ( AHRR cg26164488 (NA), cg07504977 (NA), cg14476101 ( PHGDH cg26680760 (NA) cg26140475 (NA). four differentially methylated sites waist circumference Cg00574958 ( CPT1A Cg04332373 ( CD38 Cg14476101 ( PHGDH cg25349939 ( GTDC1 [36]. methylation cohorts—the Framingham Study (FHS) ( n = 1,935 case: control study, n = 442 ran-dom samples) in Communities (ARIC) ( n = 2,015 ARIC BMI‐related epigenetic CPT1A n = 991 samples) n = methylated CpG (IS) (IR) physiologists will play an important role in characterising these findings in proof‐of‐concept experiments in laboratory, and health and medical practi-tioners armed with these findings will ultimately deliver knowledge and hopefully person-alised treatment strategies to the obese patients in the clinic.