Experiment
This study reports on the dissection of genetic and functional aspects of susceptibility to Leishmania major infecton using two contrasting inbred strains BALB/cHeA (susceptible) and STS/A (resistant) and a resistant Recombinant Congenic (RC) strain, CcS5/Dem, which carries a random set of 12.5% of genes from the strain STS and 87.5% genes from the susceptible strain BALB/c. The CcS5/Dem strain was highly resistant despite its overall genetic similarity to BALB/c. The genetic dissection of resistance of the RC strain CcS5 was presented in this study.
The F2 hybrids between (BALB/c x CcS5) were genotyped with microsatellite markers covering the 12 STS derived segments on eight chromosomes. Linkage analysis of different parameters of the disease revealed five novel loci, Lmr3 - Lmr7, affecting the response to the infection, each associated with a different combination of pathological symptoms and immunological reactions.
02.25.2016 Curator Note: We have retained the QTL identified in this study as Lmr3. We have also assigned official nomenclature to each of the independent traits that map with significance within the Lmr3 locus creating Lmr3a, Lmr3b, Lmr3c, and Lmr3d.
Lmr3, leishmaniasis resistance 3 mapped to Chr 5 linked with marker D5Mit112.
Within this QTL,
Lmr3a was linked with splenomegaly, corrected p=0.046;
Lmr3b was linked ith hepatomegaly, corrected p=0.052;
Lmr3c was linked with higher levels of serum IgE, corrected p=0.058;
Lmr3d was linked with higher levels of IFN gamma, corrected p=0.0092; all loci peaking with marker D5Mit112. The BALB/c allele was associated with splenomegaly, heptatomegaly and higher serum levels. [Table 2].
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