WIKIMEDIA, GEORGE SHUKLIN
Mice missing the estrogen-related receptor alpha (ESRRA) gene, which has been linked to human eating disorders, weigh 15 percent less than wild-type mice, eat less, and exhibit compulsive behavior, according to a study published today (April 9) in Cell Reports.
Researchers from the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine had previously sequenced the genomes of two human families with a high prevalence of eating disorders and identified rare mutations that led to lower levels of ESRRA, a transcription factor required for making energy-producing mitochondria in the brain. To understand the potential effect of altered ESRRA levels, the scientists examined the brains and behaviors of mice that lack the gene entirely.
In their latest study, the researchers found that mice without ESRRA met the clinical ...
