Genetic analysis of a spontaneous mutation in a rat with a novel hind limb defect

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We describe here a novel rat mutant that arose spontaneously from a mating of two Sprague Dawley rats in a colony that we maintain to study another mutation, Nuc1. Nuc1 is an eye-specific phenotype with developmental abnormalities that we have been investigating for several years. Hind limbs of the new mutant animals are extended and abducted so severely that they do not effectively support the animal's weight. Because of this unusual appearance and gait anomaly, we have named the mutant strain frogleg. The brain of a frogleg rat is smaller in size and weight relative to normal littermates; however body weight, which is typically lower in the affected newborn rats, does catch up to normal after several months. Histological analysis of frogleg sciatic nerve revealed some abnormal changes in Schwann cells. Neurometric studies also showed that sciatic compound muscle action potential is significantly reduced in frogleg rats. Attempts to breed frogleg animals with each other or with phenotypically normal males and females were unsuccessful. Carrying the line was complicated by the absence of a heterozygote phenotype. We were able to perpetuate the frogleg line by breeding unaffected littermates of frogleg rats in random combination until specific matings produced frogleg progeny, thereby identifying the parents as heterozygotes. We have established that the condition is inherited in a Mendelian fashion as a single autosomal recessive trait, and have used genetic linkage analysis to map the gene to rat chromosome 1q36-37. This disease interval has been reduced to a chromosomal region of 2.7 Mbp. Based on the Reference Sequence annotation database for the most current rat genome assembly, there are 8 potential frogleg gene candidates. However, augmentation of this number by alignment with syntenic portions of the human and mouse genomes increases the total number of genes in the interval to approximately 19. In the current application, we seek to identify the gene and the specific mutation responsible for the frogleg phenotype. In addition we will better characterize the neurological abnormalities of frogleg rats. Knowing the gene's identity and the nature of the mutation will help us to further understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for this interesting phenotype. Our working hypothesis is that identification of the mutation and the gene responsible for the frogleg phenotype will provide a novel model for studying cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurodevelopmental disorders. Therefore, we propose the following aims: SPECIFIC AIM 1: To refine the linkage map of the frogleg locus. SPECIFIC AIM 2: To identify the frogleg gene and mutation. SPECIFIC AIM 3: To characterize the pathology that underlies the phenotype of the frogleg rat. The identification of the gene responsible for frogleg would be a major step toward defining the potential value of the model for the study of mechanisms involved in neurodevelopmental disorders. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The frogleg rat is a novel spontaneous mutant with a well-defined hind limb disability. This defect is neurological in origin. With the identification of the gene and specific mutation, the frogleg rat will become a valuable animal model for the study of neurodevelopmental disorders.