Quantitative trait loci modulate renal cystic disease severity in the mouse bpk model

Numerous mouse models of polycystic kidney disease (PKD) have been described in which the mutant phenotypes closely resemble human PKD with regard to morphology, cyst localization, and disease progression. As in human PKD, genetic background affects the disease phenotype in mouse PKD models. Using experimental crosses, these modifying effects can be dissected into discrete genetic factors referred to as quantitative trait loci. The locus for the mouse bpk model was recently mapped to chromosome (Chr) 10. In the course of these studies, marked variability was observed in the renal cystic disease expressed in F2 bpk/bpk homozygotes of a (BALB/c-+/bpk x CAST/Ei)F1 intercross. The current study was undertaken to further characterize the renal cystic disease as quantitative trait in this F2 cohort and to map the genetic modifiers that modulate this phenotype. Whole-genome scans revealed a CAST-derived locus on distal Chr 6, near D6Mit14, that affects renal cystic disease severity. Additional analyses identified loci on Chr 1, Chr 2, and Chr 4, as well as a possible interaction between the Chr 6 locus and a locus on distal Chr 1, near D1Mit17. Interestingly, the gene encoding RGS7, a regulator of G protein signaling that binds to polycystin-1, was mapped to the same Chr 1 interval. It is concluded that the severity of the bpk renal cystic disease phenotype is modulated by multiple loci and possibly by epistatic interaction among them. It is hypothesized that the gene encoding the polycystin-binding partner RGS7 is a candidate for the Chr 1 genetic modifier.