Identification of Candidate Genes for Neuropathic Pain at the Pain1 Locus on Mouse Chromosome 15

Sciatic and saphenous neurectomy produces in mice a neuropathic pain-like behaviour (‘autotomy’). A/J mice express higher autotomy levels than C57BL6/J mice. A previous study used autotomy data for these strains and their 23 recombinant daughter inbred lines of the AXB-BXA set, to map a quantitative trait locus (QTL) for autotomy on chromosome 15. Since then, this QTL, named Pain1, was replicated twice. Since all three studies used a low-resolution genetic map based on microsatellites its confidence length precluded identification of candidate gene(s). To overcome this problem, I used a higher resolution SNP-based genetic map and refined Pain1’s peak location, identifying in it 80 candidate genes. But only Lynx1, Arc and Sharpin had sequence mismatches between A/J and C57BL6/J, known neural functions, and contrasting expression levels in DRGs and spinal cord of intact, sham-operated, and neurectomized mice of these lines. Meeting these criteria made them our best candidate genes for autotomy.MAS