Fig. 4.

Differences in Hamp gene (Hepcidin) expression may underlie dietary iron-induced metabolic changes. LG/J mice do not increase hepatic Hamp expression in response to dietary iron, compared to SM/J mice that increase Hamp expression 3.6-fold (a). The lack of increased Hamp expression coincides with no change in circulating Hepcidin in LG/J mice and a 10-fold increase in Hepcidin levels in SM/J mice, normalized to control-fed mice (b). Hepatic gene expression analysis of an LG/J-SM/J F₁ intercross population reveals preferential expression of the SM/J Hamp allele (c). Screen shot of strain-specific variants in the Hamp locus between the LG/J and SM/J strains. Dashes denote location of genetic differences between strains, with LG/J variant listed first and SM/J variant second (d). Panel a: n = 14–17 mice per strain X diet cohort. Panel b: n = 6–7 mice per strain X diet cohort. Panel c: n = 32 LG/J-SM/J F₁ intercross mice. Panels A and B - *p-value < 0.05, **p-value < 0.01, ***p-value < 0.001 assessed by ANOVA with Tukey’s Post Hoc Correction. Panel c – ***p-value < 0.001 assessed by students t-test. N.S. – Not significant. Error bars represent +/− standard deviation