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Letter

Nature Genetics 38, 363–368 (1 March 2006) | doi:10.1038/ng1739

Polygenic control of Caenorhabditis elegans fat storage

Ho Yi Mak , Laura S Nelson , Michael Basson , Carl D Johnson & Gary Ruvkun

Tubby mice and individuals with Bardet-Biedl syndrome have defects in ciliated neuron function and obesity, suggesting an as-yet unknown metabolic signaling axis from ciliated neurons to fat storage tissues. Here we show coordinate regulation of Caenorhabditis elegans fat storage by orthologues of these genes acting in ciliated neurons and by a 3-ketoacyl-coA thiolase (encoded by kat-1) that acts in fat storage tissue.