Friedman, Jeffrey

One of the classical obesity mntations in mice is termed ob, for obesity. Mice that are homozygous for the ob mutation (ob/ob mice) are grossly obese. Jeffrey Friedman at the Rockefeller University elucidated the defect in ob/ob mice in 1992. Specifically, the ob gene encodes a protein termed leptin.Leptin is prodnced in fat tissue and acts on the central nervous system at the hypothalamus. Basically, it reports nutritional information to this control center. 

---