Tensor tympani- The tensor tympani is the larger of the two muscles of the auditory canal, the other being stapedius. The muscle functions to dampen down sounds such as chewing. It arises from the cartilaginous portion of the eustachian tube as well as the adjacent section of the greater wing of the sphenoid bone.
A nonsense mutation in the leptin gene that results in a stop codon and lack of leptin production was first observed in mice in 1950. In the mouse gene, arginine-105 is encoded by CGA and only requires one nucleotide change to create the stop codon TGA.
It is part of a network of regulatory hormones which control how energy is consumed and used up in the body. Resistance to leptin, or a lack of it have been associated with obesity. Leptin resistance may occur for a number of different reasons; the authors describe them as complex reasons. Sometimes, leptin resistance is caused by a malfunction of the brain's leptin receptor. By acquiring a better understand of how leptin and its receptor interact, researchers believe they will be able to find new treatments for metabolic disorders and obesity. The structure of the signaling complex between leptin and its receptors has not been researched properly, the authors explained.