Melanocortin 4 receptor gene variation is associated with severe obesity in Pima Indians

Heterozygous coding mutations in the melanocortin 4 receptor gene (MC4R) are the most common genetic causes of severe human obesity identified to date. To determine whether MC4R has a role in causing severe obesity in Pima Indians, we sequenced the coding region of this gene in 426 full-heritage, non-first-degree related, adult Pima Indians (300 severely obese and 126 nondiabetic nonobese control subjects). Three coding variations were detected as heterozygotes only in severely obese subjects. One variation, detected in three obese subjects, was a novel single-base insertion (A) at nucleotide 100, and it predicted a frameshift and premature STOP at codon 37. The second variant, detected in 10 obese subjects, predicted a previously identified arginine-to-glutamine substitution at codon 165, and the third variant, detected in one obese subject, predicted a novel glycine-to-serine substitution at codon 231. Three polymorphisms were also identified in the 5' untranslated region, but these variants were detected in both obese and lean subjects and had similar allele frequencies. We conclude that variations in MC4R may account for a small portion of obesity in Pima Indians, but they do not explain the overall high prevalence of obesity in this Native American population.