Patent ID: 7175999

Claim:
A method of identifying a candidate compound that modulates fat metabolism, said method comprising a) contacting a mammalian cell or a nematode cell with a candidate compound; b) obtaining mRNA from said mammalian cell or said nematode cell; c) contacting a microarray with said mRNA, wherein said microarray consists of at least two mammalian or nematode fat metabolism regulator nucleic acids or fragment thereof, wherein said fragment encodes at least 50 contiguous amino acids of a fat metabolism polypeptide, and wherein inactivation of each of said mammalian or nematode fat metabolism regulator nucleic acids results in an alteration in fat content of an organism compared to a control organism; and d) detecting an alteration in cellular mRNA levels of at least two fat metabolism regulator nucleic acid molecules in said mammalian cell or said nematode cell contacted with said candidate compound compared to a control cell, wherein said alteration identifies the candidate compound as a candidate compound that modulates fat metabolism.