Obesity and body fat distribution is a complex phenotype highly heritable. Genetic
variants showing association with BMI, a measure of body size, or waist-to-hip ratio adjusted
for BMI (WHRadjBMI ), a measure of body shape, have been identified through
genome-wide association studies. It is well known that body size and shape ...»»»»
Obesity and body fat distribution is a complex phenotype highly heritable. Genetic
variants showing association with BMI, a measure of body size, or waist-to-hip ratio adjusted
for BMI (WHRadjBMI ), a measure of body shape, have been identified through
genome-wide association studies. It is well known that body size and shape change as
people grow older and in addition there are substantial changes in both size and shape
between men and women. These changes have been explained by means of several evolutionary
hypotheses. However little is known about the evolution of the genetic variants
underlying these phenotypes. In this study we have tested from the evolutionary perspective
12 SNPs associated with BMI with age-specific effects and 49 SNPs associated
with WHRadjBMI with sex-specific effects identified and described by Winkler and Shungin.
For that, we have analysed the genetic variation of those loci in human population
and tested the presence of differential patterns of selective pressures in 940 unrelated individuals
from 53 populations from the Human Genome Diversity Panel in a collaboration
with Centre Etude Polymorphism Human (HGDP-CEPH). By applying different statistical
methods, we detect gender associated selective pressures on genetic scores for WHRadjBMI
differentially acting over populations , as well as limit evidence for age and BMI.^^^^
