Hereditary pancreatitis model WBN/Kob rat strain has a unique haplotype in the Pdwk1 region on chromosome 7

Abstract

The WBN/Kob rat strain is a hereditary animal model of chronic pancreatitis and diabetes mellitus. The major WBN/Kob loci for pancreatitis (Pdwk1 and Pdwk2) are located on chromosomes 7 and X, respectively. In this study, polymorphisms were sought for candidate genes in the Pdwk1 and Pdwk2 regions. Nucleotide polymorphisms were found in 14 candidate genes examined in the Pdwk1 region. These polymorphisms were not associated with functional changes, and hence were unlikely to be a cause of pancreatitis. Seven nucleotide polymorphisms in three candidate genes, Rac2, Grap2, and Xpnpep3, located within a 3.3-Mb region were not found in 14 other inbred rat strains. These results suggest that WBN/Kob has a unique haplotype block in the chromosomal region contatining Pdwk1.