Scientists have discovered a variant gene that leads to a sizable extra risk of Type 2 diabetes and is carried by more than a third of the American population.

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The finding is being reported today in the journal Nature Genetics by researchers at Decode Genetics, a company in Reykjavik, Iceland, that specializes in finding the genetic roots of human diseases. Decode Genetics first found the variant gene - one of many different versions that exist in the human population - in Icelanders and has now confirmed the finding in a Danish and an American population.

An immediate practical consequence of the discovery, said Decode's chief executive, Kari Stefansson, would be to develop a diagnostic test to identify people who carry the variant gene. If people knew of their extra risk, they would have an incentive to stay thin and exercise, he said.

Diabetes, a disease in which damaging amounts of sugar build up in the blood, with risk of blindness and loss of limbs, affects 20.8 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 800,000 adult New Yorkers - more than one in every eight - now have diabetes, and city health officials have expressed concern about its growing incidence.

Type 2 diabetes, the predominant form, is typically diagnosed in adults and adolescents, though it is creeping into younger age groups. The Type 2 kind accounts for up to 95 percent of all diagnosed cases, according to the centers.