The human obesity gene map: the 1996 update.

An update of the human obesity gene map up to October 1996 is presented. Evidence from Mendelian disorders exhibiting obesity as a clinical feature, single-gene mutation rodent models, quantitative trait loci uncovered in crossbreeding experiments with mouse, rat, and pig models, association and case-control studies with candidate genes, and linkage studies with genes and other markers is reviewed. All chromosomal locations of the animal loci are converted into human genome locations based on syntenic relationships between the genomes. A complete listing of all these loci reveals that only 4 of the 24 human chromosomes are not yet represented, i.e., 9, 18, 21, and Y. Several chromosome arms are characterized by the presence of several putative loci. The following arms include at least three such loci: 1p, 1q, 3p, 4q, 6p, 7q, 8p, 8q, 11p, 11q, 15q, 20q, and Xq. Studies with negative association and linkage results are also reviewed.