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The FIC1 gene: structure and polymorphisms in baboon
Author(s) -
Cox Laura A.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of medical primatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.31
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1600-0684
pISSN - 0047-2565
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-0684.2002.1o015.x
Subject(s) - baboon , biology , gene , genetics , evolutionary biology , medicine , computational biology , endocrinology
A genome scan performed on 648 pedigreed baboons to detect and localize quantitative trait loci (QTL) for lipoprotein phenotypes that are known risk factors for atherosclerosis indicated the presence of a QTL on chromosome 18q that exerts a major influence on HDL‐cholesterol (HDL‐C) related phenotypes. Inspection of the human gene map revealed that the familial intrahepatic cholestatis gene 1 ( FIC1 ) maps to the homologous region of baboon chromosome 18 containing the major QTL influencing HDL‐C phenotypes. FIC1 is a strong biological candidate for this QTL because HDL‐C is the preferred precursor for bile acid synthesis. In this study, we cloned and sequenced FIC1 cDNA and found that it is highly conserved between human and baboon. We also sequenced FIC1 cDNAs from a panel of unrelated baboons revealing single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and a polymorphic dinucleotide repeat. None of the baboon SNPs corresponded to human FIC1 mutations associated with familial intrahepatic cholestasis or benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis disorders.