The technique, which is reportedly up to 100 million times more efficient than other approaches, managed to pinpoint all the genes in the genome regulated by the USF1 transcription factor, providing the researchers with hints about which biological processes are affected by the disease. It is hoped the method could also aid research into other disorders.

"It's a new way to systematically identify genes crucial to cancer, diabetes and many other common diseases," Claes Wadelius from Uppsala University in Sweden told LabTechnologist.com.

Previously techniques to find the genes expressed by a transcription factor could only be performed on one small section of the genome at a time, making it a very slow process. The human genome is so large that it would have been impossible to test every possible gene, leaving potentially important sections untested.

"In the past you could only analyse 30 bases, whereas the genome contains more than a billion bases, so ideally you want to study something 100 millions times bigger," says Wadelius.

Wadelius's technique targets all of the genes that are expressed by a transcription factor in one go. To start the process, the team treated a living cell with formaldehyde, which cross-links all the proteins bound to the DNA. An ultrasound wave is then applied to split up the long strands of DNA into many smaller fragments. Next, antibodies are added to the mixture that specifically target the transcription factors being studied. These antibodies bind to the molecules of the transcription factor, which are in turn bound to the relevant pieces of DNA.

By adding another set of proteins to the mixture which now binds these antibodies to a solid support, the relevant genes are held to a solid surface via a link of proteins and antibodies, allowing them to be separated from the other segments of DNA that are not expressed by the transcription factor.

Once the mixture has been cleaned from the remaining fragments of the cell, the pieces of DNA are released from the solid support and placed in an oligonucleotide array which determines the location of the genes within the human genome, allowing the scientists to identify the relevant genes.

Wadelius claimed that finding laboratory equipment capable of dealing with all of the data produced by the technique was one of the key challenges, which they solved by working with equipment provider Affymetrix. "We collaborated with Affymetrix to produce a set of seven high-resolution arrays that cover the entire genome," he said.

The results from the experiment showed found that many of the genes expressed by USF1 are involved in regulating the metabolism. "It suggests that people who develop the disease don't have normal energy production," he said. "It's one piece of evidence that could help identify the key mechanism of why people have these abnormal fat levels in their blood."

However, the research can not end here. "We need to investigate other transcription factors involved in fat metabolism. This research is just the proof of principle that this kind of work can be done."