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Summary: Brief Genetics Report
Distinguishing Covariation From Causation in Diabetes
A Lesson From the Protein Disulfide Isomerase mRNA
Abundance Trait
Hong Lan,1
Mary E. Rabaglia,1
Kathryn L. Schueler,1
Christine Mata,1
Brian S. Yandell,2
and Alan D. Attie1
Protein disulfide isomerase (Pdi) is reported to be an
insulin-regulated gene whose expression level is in-
creased in the livers of rats with streptozotocin-induced
diabetes. We found that Pdi mRNA is 20-fold more
abundant in the diabetes-susceptible BTBR mouse
strain relative to the diabetes-resistant C56BL/6 (B6)
strain. A genetic analysis was carried out to determine
whether there is a causal relationship between elevated
Pdi expression and diabetes phenotype in BTBR-ob/ob
mice. We mapped Pdi mRNA abundance as a quantita-
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