Further dissection of QTLs for salt-induced stroke and identification of candidate genes in the stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat

We previously revealed that two major quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for stroke latency of the stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHRSP) under salt-loading were located on chromosome (Chr) 1 and 18. Here, we attempted further dissection of the stroke-QTLs using multiple congenic strains between SHRSP and a stroke-resistant hypertensive rat (SHR). Cox hazard model among subcongenic strains harboring a chromosomal fragment of Chr-1 QTL region showed that the most promising region was a 2.1 Mbp fragment between D1Rat177 and D1Rat97. The QTL region on Chr 18 could not be narrowed down by the analysis, which may be due to multiple QTLs in this region. Nonsynonymous sequence variations were found in four genes (Cblc, Cxcl17, Cic, and Ceacam 19) on the 2.1 Mbp fragment of Chr-1 QTL by whole-genome sequence analysis of SHRSP/Izm and SHR/Izm. Significant changes in protein structure were predicted in CBL-C and CXCL17 using I-TASSER. Comprehensive gene expression analysis in the kidney with a cDNA microarray identified three candidate genes (LOC102548695 (Zinc finger protein 45-like, Zfp45L), Ethe1, and Cxcl17). In conclusion, we successfully narrowed down the QTL region on Chr 1, and identified six candidate genes in this region.