Genetic models of obesity and energy balance in the mouse

Obesity is a health problem of epidemic proportions in the industrialized w orld. The cloning and characterization of the genes for the five naturally occurring monogenic obesity syndromes in the mouse have led to major breakt hroughs in understanding the physiology of energy balance and the contribut ion of genetics to obesity in the human population. However, the regulation of energy balance is an extremely complex process, and it is quickly becom ing clear that hundreds of genes are involved. In this article, we review t he naturally occurring monogenic and polygenic obese mouse strains, as well as the large number of transgenic and knockout mouse models currently avai lable for the study of obesity and energy balance.