Jennifer Couzin-FrankelThey rose to fame as the world’s fattest mice. At about 130 grams, the rodents were “the equivalent of 600 pounds in humans,” says diabetes researcher Philipp Scherer.
They were born to genetically engineered mouse parents in his lab at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. One set of parents lacked the hormone leptin, an appetite suppressant that signals when it’s time to stop eating.
The other parents overproduced the hormone adiponectin, churned out by fat cells, which is thought to support metabolic health, protecting against obesity-linked diseases such as type 2 diabetes.Scherer’s mouse pups melded their parents’ traits.