SNPs in the first intron of FTO (fat mass and obesity associated) are strongly associated with human obesity. While it is not yet formally established that this effect is mediated through the actions of the FTO protein itself, loss of function mutations in FTO or its murine homologue Fto result in severe growth retardation, and mice globally overexpressing FTO are obese. The mechanisms through which FTO influences growth and body composition are unknown. We describe a role for FTO in the coupling of amino acid levels to mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 signaling. These findings suggest that FTO may influence body composition through playing a role in cellular nutrient sensing.genetics | translation | tRNA synthetase | demethylase I n 2007, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the first intron of fat mass and obesity related (FTO) were found to be powerfully associated with body mass index and predisposing to childhood and adult obesity (1). Many subsequent studies, covering multiple populations of European, African, and Asian ancestries, across different age ranges, have confirmed the association of FTO with body mass index (reviewed in ref.2). It is clear from the weight of evidence that the major effect of SNPs in FTO is on increased energy intake, with reduction in satiety (3-8). To date, no conclusive link has been made between the risk alleles and expression or function of FTO. However, transgenic manipulation in mice supports the notion that FTO itself regulates body weight, with overexpression resulting in obesity (9), whereas Fto-null mice (10) and humans homozygous for a loss-of-function allele (11) display postnatal growth retardation and have high rates of early mortality.FTO is widely expressed across multiple tissues, although it is most highly expressed in the brain, especially in the hypothalamus, a region that plays a key role in the control of energy homeostasis (12). We have found that expression of FTO, specifically in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, is bidirectionally regulated as a function of nutritional status-decreasing following a 48-h fast and increasing after 10 wk of exposure to a high-fat diet-and that modulating FTO levels specifically in the arcuate nucleus can influence food intake (13). Carriers of the obesity predisposing allele are hyperphagic and show altered macronutrient preference.FTO shares sequence motifs with Fe(II)-and 2-oxoglutaratedependent oxygenases (12). In vitro, recombinant FTO is able to catalyze the Fe(II)-and 2-oxoglutarate-dependent demethylation of nucleic acids. It is more active at RNA than DNA (12,14) and is capable of demethylating N6-methyladenosine (15) (more prevalent on mRNAs) or 3-methyluracil (15) (more prevalent in tRNAs and ribosomal RNAs). To date, however, there has been no understanding of how FTO might functionally link to energy homeostasis, growth, or nutrient sensing.
ResultsOne of the most striking features of mice lacking FTO (10), or humans homozygous for an enzymatically inactive mutated FTO (11), is severe growth ...