Our scientific field is genetics covering from fruit fly to mammals. Now we are forcusing on animal models of human diseases such as Wilson diseases, obesity, type 2 diabetes.
Our goal is to unravel the principles underlying genetic as well as environmental mechanisms controlling quantitative traits, such as body weight, blood glucose level or blood pressure. The last decade is a full of success of identifying genes involved in Mendelian trait and completing the entire human genome. Now we need to go out and hunt treasure searching for the genes responsible for quantitative traits. Then we need to ask questions, "What mutation is the cause of the altered expression of quantitative trait?" "How does the gene product respond to environmental factors?" "What is the molecular networks and dynamics the gene is a part of?" For these kinds of molecular dissection, using an appropriate animal model is essential. We use the OLETF rat, which is an excellent animal model for the study of type II diabetes. Our approach is to use molecular markers to determine the QTL(quantitative trait loci) and subsequently to make congenic animals which harbor single diabetic loci at a particular genomic region in otherwise wild-type genetic background. Studying congenic animal allows us to separately analyze individual component of complex trait. To identify genes in each congenic rats, we then use differential display, microarrey and proteomics approach and/or carry out fine mapping as a next step toward positional cloning. We can take full advantage of rat whole genomic sequences which is expected to be publicized during the year 2002.
We are focusing on type 2 diabetes with mild obesity in OLETF rats which is the best animal model of human type 2 diabetes with obesity
Spontaneous animal models of human diseases (Japanese)
Lecture for OLETF diabetes rat (English)（Co-workers for OLETF diabetes rats ） (Japanese)
Strain Information of Inbred Rats (English)
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NCBI, Human & others 