Diabetes 53:245-249, 2004 © 2004 by the American Diabetes Association, Inc.
Identification of Major Quantitative Trait Loci Controlling Body Weight Variation in ob/ob Mice
1 Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
The adipocyte hormone leptin constitutes an important component of the regulation of energy homeostasis; leptin-deficient animals, such as obese mice, are strikingly overweight. The seemingly uninhibited weight gain in obese mice belies the fact that control of energy homeostasis remains under precise, heritably modifiable control. Herein, we report large, heritable differences in body weight and food intake between BTBR-ob/ob and B6-ob/ob mice. We have identified two loci, called modifier of obese (Moo1 and Moo2), that explain the majority of the heritable variance in (BTBR x B6) F2-ob/ob mice. Using interval-specific congenic mouse lines, we mapped Moo1 to an 8-Mb segment of chromosome 2 and demonstrated that Moo1 exerts its effects primarily by regulating total fat mass. Although null alleles of leptin are rare, the majority of overweight adults are leptin resistant, suggesting that leptin-independent pathways, such as those studied here, are important regulators of energy homeostasis. Thus, the identification of these loci may provide important new insights into the pathogenesis of human obesity.
Genetic factors help determine an individuals predisposition to obesity (1). Single-gene obesity syndromes notwithstanding, the major genetic determinants of human obesity are unknown. Understanding these determinants will greatly enhance our ability to diagnose and treat obese individuals. The cloning of the mouse obese gene (2) led to the discovery of pathways by which the brain senses nutritional status (3), allowing for precise control of food intake and energy expenditure, and maintenance of an internal body composition set point (4). The product of the obese gene, the 16-kDa hormone leptin, constitutes an afferent signal proportional to triglyceride stores within white adipose tissue. Leptin-deficient ob/ob mice exist in a state of perceived starvation, constitutively consuming food and suppressing energy expenditure (5).
We have previously shown that two background genomes, BTBR (6) and B6, modify the type 2 diabetes syndrome in obese mice (7). Since BTBR-ob/ob mice are severely diabetic and markedly glycosuric, we expected to observe substantial secondary weight loss. Surprisingly, BTBR-ob/ob mice gained significantly more weight than B6-ob/ob controls despite having similar weaning weights (Fig. 1A and B).
At least part of this weight gain difference can be explained by food intake. Over a 20-day period, BTBR-ob/ob mice consumed significantly more food than B6-ob/ob controls (Fig. 1D). This increased food intake can be directly associated with weight gain during this period, as feed efficiency was not significantly different (Fig. 1G).
We assembled 350 F2-ob/ob mice derived from BTBR and B6. Sewall-Wright analysis (Fig. 1C) indicates that 30% of the F2 population variance in body mass is heritable. We genotyped the F2 mice at an autosome-wide panel of microsatellites and detected quantitative trait loci (QTLs) as described previously (7).
We detected two major body mass QTLs (Fig. 2). One locus, on chromosome 2, exhibits highly significant linkage to body mass (logarithm of odds [LOD] = 9.48) (Fig. 2B). At the peak marker, D2Mit9, each BTBR allele semidominantly increases 10-week body mass by 3.4 g (
Another highly significant linkage, Moo2, resides on chromosome 13 around D13Mit66 (Fig. 2C). The Moo2B6 allele is dominant to BTBR, adding 2.7 g to 10-week body mass, explaining 12.5% of the F2 population variance. Multivariate regression analysis of Moo1 and Moo2 revealed no significant nonlinear interactions (data not shown). Although Moo2 cannot explain any of the parental strain difference reported here, it supports other studies showing B6 to bear alleles promoting increased feeding efficiency (8), adiposity, and insulin resistance (9,10). Two other loci were discovered on chromosomes 5 and 17 (Moo3 and Moo4) (Fig. 2A). Both loci exhibited suggestive linkage with interval mapping but showed significant linkage using multiple interval mapping (Moo3 peak LOD = 3.60, D5mit136; Moo4 peak LOD = 2.49, D17Mit109).
Although the F2 data establishes the existence of QTLs, it does not provide the positional resolution to support cloning without a candidate gene. We therefore refined the position of Moo1 using interval-specific congenic (ISC) mouse lines (11). We introgressed segments of the Moo1 support interval from B6 into BTBR. We defined the support interval as the 10-cM interval surrounding the LOD peak. Three congenic mouse lines are shown (Fig. 3E), named Moo1-A through -C.
Congenic lines Moo1-A and Moo1-B have inherited the centromeric half of the Moo1 support interval from B6. The two distal recombinational break points arose independently in different founder mice. Each lines proximal recombination lies at least 19 cM (34 Mb) centromeric to the Moo1 LOD peak. Longitudinal analysis of 28 growth curves from line Moo1-A (Fig. 3A) by sigmoidal regression shows no association between weight gain and genotype (difference in mean asymptotic body mass = b3 = -0.31 ± 1.71 g, P = 0.82). Similarly, 27 growth curves from line Moo1-B showed no association with genotype (b3 = -0.21 ± 2.7 g, P = 0.94) (Fig. 3B). Thus, ISC lines Moo1-A and -B detect no evidence of Moo1 in the region of chromosome 2 centromeric to (and including) D2Mit61.
Line Moo1-C has retained an Body composition analysis was performed on a randomly selected, representative subset of 15-week-old obese mice from Moo1-C. Nearly 90% of the observed difference in total carcass mass can be accounted for by differences in ether-extractable (lipid) mass (-7.1 ± 2.4 g per B6 allele) (Fig. 3E). No significant differences between genotypes were observed in moisture content or fat-free dry mass, indicating that Moo1 regulates body mass by controlling accretion of lipid. The Moo1 position established by Moo1-C corresponds to a region associated with subcutaneous fat and diet-induced HDL levels in (B6 x CAST/Ei) F2 mice (12), and with obesity in (AKR x C57BL6/J) F2 mice (13). Moo1 is distinct from an adiposity QTL in (NZB/B1NJ x SM/J) F2 mice (14). Other linkages to body weight or adiposity on chromosome 2 are broad enough to potentially include Moo1 (15,16). Together, the number of linkages on chromosome 2 suggests that a common locus may explain some or all findings and thus be of particular importance. Such a locus would be syntenic with human 2q24-32 in a region containing <50 genes. Since obesity and type 2 diabetes are so closely interrelated, it is tempting to hypothesize that Moo1 and Moo2 influence body weight by altering diabetes susceptibility or, conversely, that toggling the genotype at Moo1 or Moo2 could produce enough weight loss to ameliorate the risk of type 2 diabetes elicited by leptin deficiency. However, neither locus associates with fasting plasma glucose or insulin levels, despite the presence of an insulin locus, t2dm3, 30 cM telomeric to Moo1 (7). Despite their strength, the obesity-regulating effects of Moo1 and Moo2 are insufficient to overcome the effects of ob on diabetes susceptibility. The obesity-regulating effects of Moo1-2 are silent in Lep+/+ mice housed in standard conditions (data not shown). How then can our findings be extended to humans, in whom leptin deficiency is rare? Leptin has been shown to play a predominant role in regulating the physiological response to hunger and weight loss, but more recent data show that leptins ability to regulate hypothalamic proopiomelanocortin and CART mRNA levels diminishes when plasma leptin concentrations exceed the physiological range (17), even though proopiomelanocortin mRNA levels decrease in overfed individuals (18). These findings suggest that at higher concentration ranges, leptin may not be the primary mediator of the satiety response in obese or overfed individuals or in high-fat fed mice. The majority of obese humans are hyperleptinemic (19), indicating that regulation of energy homeostasis in the obese state occurs downstream, or independent of leptin. We targeted mediators of such pathways by eliminating the leptin arm directly. The genes thus identified may help elucidate these leptin-independent pathways and therefore be of particular relevance to human obesity.
BTBR, B6, and B6-ob/+ mice were purchased from The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME) and bred at the University of Wisconsin. Mice were weaned at 3 weeks of age onto a 6% fat diet (Purina 5008). Mice had ad libitum access to food and water, except for fasts (0730-1130) before blood draws and killing (by CO2 asphyxiation). The facilities and research protocols were approved by the University of Wisconsin Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. The lineage and characteristics of the BTBR strain have been reviewed by Ranheim et al. (6).
Initial QTL detection.
Analysis of ISC mouse lines.
Each ISC line was scored as "retaining" or "not retaining" the B6 allele of the QTL by comparing growth curves of obese backcross mice within each line, by genotype, i.e., comparing mice heterozygous for the congenic insert with their sibs who did not inherit the insert. No historical controls or cohorts were employed. Longitudinal body mass data for each mouse were fitted to a sigmoidal growth model:
Food intake.
Body composition.
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grant DK-58037, Xenon Genetics, and an American Diabetes Association Mentor-based Fellowship. J.E.B was supported by National Institutes of Health Predoctoral Training Grant DK-07665-11. We thank the NHLBI Mammalian Genotyping Service at the Marshfield Clinic (Marshfield, WI) for their genotyping efforts. We also acknowledge K. Albright, M. Pariza, W. Dove, and M. Rabaglia for their support and assistance. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Alan D. Attie., Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 433 Babcock Dr., Madison, WI 53706. E-mail: attie{at}biochem.wisc.edu Received for publication May 7, 2003 and accepted in revised form October 13, 2003
Abbreviations: ISC, interval-specific congenic; LOD, logarithm of odds; Moo, modifier of obese; QTL, quantitative trait locus
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