A 5′ UTR Mutation Contributes to Down-Regulation of Bbs7 in the Berlin Fat Mouse

Kourosh Mohebian, Deike Hesse, Danny Arends, Gudrun A. Brockmann*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
18 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The Bardet–Biedl Syndrome 7 (Bbs7) gene was identified as the most likely candidate gene causing juvenile obesity in the Berlin Fat Mouse Inbred (BFMI) line. Bbs7 expression is significantly lower in the brain, adipose tissue, and liver of BFMI mice compared to lean C57BL/6NCrl (B6N) mice. A DNA sequence comparison between BFMI and B6N revealed 16 sequence variants in the Bbs7 promoter region. Here, we tested if these mutations contribute to the observed differential expression of Bbs7. In a cell-based dual-luciferase assay, we compared the effects of the BFMI and the B6N haplotypes of different regions of the Bbs7 promotor on the reporter gene expression. A single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was identified causing a significant reduction in the reporter gene expression. This SNP (rs29947545) is located in the 5′ UTR of Bbs7 at Chr3:36.613.350. The SNP is not unique to BFMI mice but also occurs in several other mouse strains, where the BFMI allele is not associated with lower Bbs7 transcript amounts. Thus, we suggest a compensatory mutation in the other mouse strains that keeps Bbs7 expression at the normal level. This compensatory mechanism is missing in BFMI mice and the cell lines tested.

Original languageEnglish
Article number13018
Number of pages13
JournalInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences
Volume23
Issue number21
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Oct 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • dual luciferase
  • gene regulation
  • jObes1
  • obesity
  • SNP
  • transcription

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