In high-, middle-and low-income countries, the rising prevalence of obesity is the underlying
cause of numerous health complications and increased mortality. Being a complex and …

Salivary amylase is a glucose-polymer cleavage enzyme that is produced by the salivary
glands. It comprises a small portion of the total amylase excreted, which is mostly made by …

Host genetic variation influences microbiome composition. While studies have focused on
associations between the gut microbiome and specific alleles, gene copy number (CN) also …

Reliable detection of large structural variation (> 1000 bp) is important in both rare and
common genetic disorders. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is a technology that may be …

Background Salivary (AMY1) and pancreatic (AMY2) amylases hydrolyze starch. Copy
number of AMY1A (encoding AMY1) was reported to be higher in populations with a high …

Starch provides a large proportion of the dietary energy consumed worldwide. The
breakdown of dietary starch is driven by α‐amylase produced by the salivary glands and …

Background Studies have shown conflicting associations between the salivary amylase
gene (AMY1) copy number and obesity. Salivary amylase initiates starch digestion in the …

Alpha‐amylase exists across taxonomic kingdoms with a deep evolutionary history of gene
duplications that resulted in several α‐amylase paralogs. Copy number variation (CNV) in …

Obesity is a growing worldwide problem that generally starts in the early years of life and
affects minorities more often than Whites. Thus, there is an urgency to determine factors that …

Copy number variants (CNVs), deletions and duplications of segments of DNA, account for
at least five times more variable base pairs in humans than single-nucleotide variants …