The prevalence of obesity has tripled over the past four decades, imposing an enormous burden on people’s health. Polygenic (or common) obesity and rare, severe, early-onset monogenic obesity are often polarized as distinct diseases. However, gene discovery studies for both forms of obesity show that they have shared genetic and biological underpinnings, pointing to a key role for the brain in the control of body weight. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with increasing sample sizes and advances in sequencing technology are the main drivers behind a recent flurry of new discoveries. However, it is the post-GWAS, cross-disciplinary collaborations, which combine new omics technologies and analytical approaches, that have started to facilitate translation of genetic loci into meaningful biology and new avenues for treatment.

在过去四十年中，肥胖症的患病率增加了两倍，给人们的健康带来了巨大的负担。多基因（或常见）肥胖症和罕见的、严重的、早发性单基因肥胖症通常被两极分化为不同的疾病。然而，针对这两种肥胖形式的基因发现研究表明，它们具有共同的遗传和生物学基础，表明大脑在控制体重方面起着关键作用。随着样本量的增加和测序技术的进步，全基因组关联研究 (GWAS) 是最近一系列新发现背后的主要驱动力。然而，正是后 GWAS 的跨学科合作结合了新的组学技术和分析方法，才开始促进将遗传位点转化为有意义的生物学和新的治疗途径。