Effects of deletion on body weight and cholesterol in mice.

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) data have linked the gene to variations in fasting blood glucose (FBG). encodes an islet-specific glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic subunit that forms a substrate cycle with the beta cell glucose sensor glucokinase. This cycle modulates the glucose sensitivity of insulin secretion and hence FBG. GWAS data have not linked to variations in body weight but we previously reported that female C57BL/6J -knockout (KO) mice were lighter than wild-type littermates on both a chow and high-fat diet. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of deletion on FBG and body weight in both chow-fed and high-fat-fed mice on two other genetic backgrounds. FBG was reduced in KO mice largely independent of gender, genetic background or diet. In contrast, the effect of deletion on body weight was markedly influenced by these variables. Deletion of conferred a marked protection against diet-induced obesity in male mixed genetic background mice, whereas in 129SvEv mice deletion of had no effect on body weight. deletion also reduced plasma cholesterol levels in a manner dependent on gender, genetic background and diet. An association between and plasma cholesterol was also observed in humans through electronic health record-derived phenotype analyses. These observations suggest that the action of G6PC2 on FBG is largely independent of the influences of environment, modifier genes or epigenetic events, whereas the action of G6PC2 on body weight and cholesterol are influenced by unknown variables.