Abstract
Salivary amylase (AMY1) is the most abundant enzyme in human saliva, responsible for the hydrolysis of α-1,4 glycosidic linkages that aids in the digestion of starch. Recently studies have shown that the copy number of AMY1 is associated with obesity; however, the data varies with location. One-third of children are overweight/obese in Alabama. In this study, we aim to determine the relationship between the copy number of AMY1 gene and obesity measurements in children from Alabama. One hundred twenty-seven children aged between 6 to 10 years participated in this study. Anthropometric measurements were measured using WHO recommendations. Genomic DNA was extracted from saliva, and the copy number of the AMY1 gene was estimated by digital PCR. The association between AMY1 copy number and obesity measurements was analyzed by linear regression. The mean AMY1 copy number significantly decreased in overweight/obese (6.21 ± 1.48) compared to normal weight (7.97 ± 2.35) children. AMY1 copy number inversely associated with the obesity measurements. African Americans had a stronger association between low AMY1 copy number and obesity compared to white/European Americans. Our findings suggest that overweight/obese children have a low AMY1 copy number and the effect is more prominent in African Americans.
Highlights
Obesity is a major health problem throughout the world [1]
Z-score (β co-efficient; −0.439, p < 0.001) compared to EA (β co-efficient; −0.118, p < 0.336 and β co-efficient; −0.058, p < 0.638, respectively) (Figure 3B,C). This present study explored the association between the obesity measurements and AMY1 copy number in elementary school children aged 6–10 years old with normal weight and overweight/obese
We found that the AMY1 copy number was negatively associated with the obesity measures such as Body Mass Index (BMI) z-score, waist circumference z-score, and waist circumference adjusted height z-score
Summary
Around 12.7 million children and adolescents are obese in United States [2]. Alabama is 6th highest ranked with obesity in United States, and 35% of children are overweight and obese [3]. The major factors contributing to the increase in prevalence of childhood obesity might be environmental conditions [4], sedentary activities [5], socioeconomic status [6], and food availability [7]; in addition to these, genetic factors could be involved [8]. The genetic factors contributing to childhood obesity in elementary school children from Alabama has been poorly studied. Copy number variations (CNV) contribute novel insights to the genetic heritability of human diseases such as autisim [9], type 2 diabetes [10], and obesity [11]. A segment of DNA expressed in a different copy number among individuals compared to a reference genome is defined as CNV [12]
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