BEIJING, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have identified a key gene related to body height and bone development, providing a reference for treating people with short stature.
Genetic inheritance plays a major role in body height. However, the function and mechanism of genes that affect human height are still unclear.
Researchers from the East China Normal University identified the GPR126 as a key gene in regulating body height after conducting genome-wide association studies and doing experiments on mice.
They found that the gene Gpr126 in the osteoblast is a critical regulator of mouse body length and bone mass. Mouse model results indicated that the knockout of Gpr126 in osteoblast led to decreased body length and bone formation.
They also analyzed the mechanism of how Gpr126 regulates bone mass and found a type of parathyroid hormone that could help restore the reduction of body length and bone mass caused by loss of Gpr126 in osteoblast.
The research was published in the journal Science Advances.
