The cholesterol transporter Abcg1, a candidate gene for obesity: deletion of Abcg1 in mice corrects diet-induced insulin resistance

Metabolic diseases affecting the energy homeostasis such as obesity, the metabolic syndrome and type-2 diabetes are determined by genetic and environmental factors. Genomic approaches, e.g. large scale gene expression analysis and human genome scans for susceptibility genes have led to the identification of several candidate genes and candidate drug targets for the metabolic syndrome. For the identification of additional obesity genes we compared results of two genome wide screenings performed in Drosophila melanogaster and in a polygenic obesity mouse model, the New Zealand obese (NZO) mouse. By correlation of…