Identification of Novel Genes Involved in Hyperglycemia in Mice

Current attempts to prevent and manage type 2 diabetes have been moderately effective, and a better understanding of the molecular roots of this complex disease is important to develop more successful and precise treatment options. Recently, we initiated the collective diabetes cross, where four mouse inbred strains differing in their diabetes susceptibility were crossed with the obese and diabetes-prone NZO strain and identified the quantitative trait loci (QTL) , a genomic region on chromosome 13 that correlates with hyperglycemia in NZO allele carriers compared to B6 controls. Subsequent analysis of the critical region, harboring 644 genes, included expression studies in pancreatic islets of congenic mice, integration of single-cell data from parental NZO and B6 islets as well as haplotype analysis. Finally, of the five genes (, , , , and ) within the polymorphic haplotype block that are differently expressed in islets of B6 compared to NZO mice, we identified the calcium-binding protein gene to affect islet cell proliferation as well as apoptosis when overexpressed in MIN6 cells. In summary, we define as the most striking gene to be causal for the diabetes QTL by affecting β-cell proliferation and apoptosis. Thus, is an entirely novel diabetes gene regulating islet cell function.