A gene that may help explain why some people can eat a rich diet and stay slim while others eat the same diet and get fat has been identified, report researchers at the UC Davis Medical Center and their colleagues in the March issue of Nature Genetics. The newly identified gene contains the blueprint for a previously unknown heat-generating protein that may play an important role in the cause and treatment of obesity. The protein appears to be responsible for burning excess calories in the diet as surplus body heat, before the calories can be stored as fat. As a result, people who have more of the protein burn more fat. The protein also may govern the development of fevers during illnesses, and may make specific tissues heat up in response to inflammation. Ultimately, the gene's discovery could lead to new approaches to treating obesity and, conversely, it also might yield medications that would help people with cancer, anorexia and other wasting diseases to maintain or increase their body weight. New treatments for some of the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and other chronic inflammatory diseases might result as well. "While the discovery isn't going to be a cure-all, it could lead to simple therapies for some people who are overweight," says the study's lead author, Craig H. Warden, assistant professor of pediatrics at the UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center.