Genetic models for non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus in rodents

Efforts to identify human genes with major effects on insulin resistance and type II diabetes have yet to be successful because of the technical difficulties associated with the analysis of complex traits in humans. Animal models, particularly the rodent models with their well developed genetic tools, and their genetic similarity to humans, offer an alternate approach to access genes important in the etiology of diabetes. This approach is validated by the remarkable progress that has been made in the identification and characterization of the genes mutated in five monogenic mouse models of obesity. Identification of these genes has led to new insights into the etiology of obesity and provided promising targets for therapeutic intervention. Arguably, genetic animal models could do the same for our understanding of diabetes. In this brief review, we introduce rodent models of type II diabetes and report on the state of their genetic analyses.