| Summary: | <p><i>Mir717</i> (<i>mmu-mir-717</i>) was first reported in mouse and resides in the intron 3 of glypican 3 (<i>Gpc3</i>) gene. Our present study revealed that this microRNA (miRNA) gene is conserved among 26 mammalian species and harbors polymorphic sites within the mature seed region in mice. Our finding represents a rare four layer genomic overlap consisting of growth associated quantitative trait locus (QTL), body mass associated <i>Gpc3</i> gene, highly conserved miRNA gene and mature miRNA seed single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) identified in the lean mouse strain 129/Sv. Additionally, genes potentially targeted by Mir717 include 91 genes associated with obesity and related phenotypes in mammals. Our analysis provides a basis for further experiments to causally connect the identified SNP and <i>Mir717</i> gene itself to obesity regulation. Furthermore, our bioinformatics analysis now enables functional annotation of <i>Mir717</i> orthologs in other species, thus determining the effect of its target genes on fat-related traits.</p>
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