title: Phenotypic divergence in two lines of L-Fabp-/- mice reflects substrain differences and environmental modifiers.
abstract: Phenotypic divergence in diet-induced obesity (DIO) and hepatic steatosis has been reported in two independently generated lines of L-Fabp(-/-) mice [New Jersey (NJ) L-Fabp(-/-) vs. Washington University (WU) L-Fabp(-/-) mice]. We performed side-by-side studies to examine differences between the lines and investigate the role of genetic background, intestinal microbiota, sex, and diet in the divergent phenotypes. Fasting-induced steatosis was attenuated in both L-Fabp(-/-) lines compared with C57BL/6J controls, with restoration of hepatic triglyceride levels following adenoviral L-Fabp rescue. Both lines were protected against DIO after high-saturated-fat diet feeding. Hepatic steatosis was attenuated in WU but not NJ L-Fabp(-/-) mice, although this difference between the lines disappeared upon antibiotic treatment and cohousing. In contrast, there was phenotypic divergence in L-Fabp(-/-) mice fed a high cocoa butter fat diet, with WU L-Fabp(-/-) mice, but not NJ L-Fabp(-/-) mice, showing protection against both DIO and hepatic steatosis, with some sex-dependent (female > male) differences. Dense mapping revealed no evidence of unintended targeting, duplications, or deletions surrounding the Fabp1 locus in either line and only minor differences in mRNA expression of genes located near the targeted allele. However, a C57BL/6 substrain screen showed that the NJ L-Fabp(-/-) line contains ∼40% C57BL/6N genomic DNA, despite reports that these mice were backcrossed six generations. Overall, these findings suggest that some of the phenotypic divergence between the two L-Fabp(-/-) lines may reflect unanticipated differences in genetic background, underscoring the importance of genetic background in phenotypic characterization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Elizabeth P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Newberry
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Jianyang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Ory
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri nod@dom.wustl.edu.
authors.forename: Nicholas O
authors.initials: NO
authors.lastname: Davidson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D004041:Dietary Fats; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D005508:Food Deprivation; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009765:Obesity / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000517:prevention & control; D010641:Phenotype; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004041:Dietary Fats; C493320:Fabp1 protein, mouse; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger
keywords: C57BL/6 substrain; Jax mice; divergent phenotypes; fatty acid binding protein; gene knockout; lipid trafficking; microbiome; triglyceride