The Mouse Genetics Project (MGP) is a large-scale mutant mouse production and phenotyping programme aimed at identifying new model organisms of disease. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Based at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, the project uses knockout mice most of which were generated by the International Knockout Mouse Consortium. For each mutant line, groups of seven male and seven female mice move through a standard analysis pipeline aimed at detecting traits that differ from healthy C57BL/6 mice. [1] The pipeline collects many measurements of viability, fertility, body weight, infection, hearing, morphology, haematology, behaviour, blood chemistry and immunity and compares them to wild type controls using a statistical mixed model. [5] These data are immediately shared among the scientific and medical research community through a bespoke open access database, [6] and summaries are displayed in other online resources, including the Mouse Genome Informatics database and the Wikipedia-based Gene Wiki. [4]
As of July 2013, the MGP reports having over 900 mutant lines openly available to the international research community, [4] and have "substantively complete" analysis for over 650 mutant lines, [6] of which over 75 per cent have at least one abnormal phenotype. [1] Among these are new discoveries of genes implicated in disease, including finding:
In genetics, the phenotype is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological properties, its behavior, and the products of behavior. An organism's phenotype results from two basic factors: the expression of an organism's genetic code and the influence of environmental factors. Both factors may interact, further affecting the phenotype. When two or more clearly different phenotypes exist in the same population of a species, the species is called polymorphic. A well-documented example of polymorphism is Labrador Retriever coloring; while the coat color depends on many genes, it is clearly seen in the environment as yellow, black, and brown. Richard Dawkins in 1978 and then again in his 1982 book The Extended Phenotype suggested that one can regard bird nests and other built structures such as caddisfly larva cases and beaver dams as "extended phenotypes".
The Wellcome Sanger Institute, previously known as The Sanger Centre and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, is a non-profit British genomics and genetics research institute, primarily funded by the Wellcome Trust.
Zinc finger protein GLI3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the GLI3 gene.
Lethal alleles are alleles that cause the death of the organism that carries them. They are usually a result of mutations in genes that are essential for growth or development. Lethal alleles may be recessive, dominant, or conditional depending on the gene or genes involved.
Myosin VIIA is protein that in humans is encoded by the MYO7A gene. Myosin VIIA is a member of the unconventional myosin superfamily of proteins. Myosins are actin binding molecular motors that use the enzymatic conversion of ATP - ADP + inorganic phosphate (Pi) to provide the energy for movement.
Conditional gene knockout is a technique used to eliminate a specific gene in a certain tissue, such as the liver. This technique is useful to study the role of individual genes in living organisms. It differs from traditional gene knockout because it targets specific genes at specific times rather than being deleted from beginning of life. Using the conditional gene knockout technique eliminates many of the side effects from traditional gene knockout. In traditional gene knockout, embryonic death from a gene mutation can occur, and this prevents scientists from studying the gene in adults. Some tissues cannot be studied properly in isolation, so the gene must be inactive in a certain tissue while remaining active in others. With this technology, scientists are able to knockout genes at a specific stage in development and study how the knockout of a gene in one tissue affects the same gene in other tissues.
Limb region 1 protein homolog is a protein that in humans is encoded by the LMBR1 gene.
Cat genetics describes the study of inheritance as it occurs in domestic cats. In feline husbandry it can predict established traits (phenotypes) of the offspring of particular crosses. In medical genetics, cat models are occasionally used to discover the function of homologous human disease genes.
In molecular cloning and biology, a gene knock-in refers to a genetic engineering method that involves the one-for-one substitution of DNA sequence information in a genetic locus or the insertion of sequence information not found within the locus. Typically, this is done in mice since the technology for this process is more refined and there is a high degree of shared sequence complexity between mice and humans. The difference between knock-in technology and traditional transgenic techniques is that a knock-in involves a gene inserted into a specific locus, and is thus a "targeted" insertion. It is the opposite of gene knockout.
The International Knockout Mouse Consortium (IKMC) is a scientific endeavour to produce a collection of mouse embryonic stem cell lines that together lack every gene in the genome, and then to distribute the cells to scientific researchers to create knockout mice to study. Many of the targeted alleles are designed so that they can generate both complete and conditional gene knockout mice. The IKMC was initiated on March 15, 2007, at a meeting in Brussels. By 2011, Nature reported that approximately 17,000 different genes have already been disabled by the consortium, "leaving only around 3,000 more to go".
SLX4 is a protein involved in DNA repair, where it has important roles in the final steps of homologous recombination. Mutations in the gene are associated with the disease Fanconi anemia.
Richard Mott is Weldon Professor of Computational and Statistical Genetics in the research department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. He was previously at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics and a Professor by Research at Oxford University.
Europhenome is a resource for presenting, searching and analysing mouse phenotypes that were revealed by high throughput mouse phenotyping programmes such as EUMODIC.
The European Conditional Mouse Mutagenesis Program or EUCOMM is an EU-funded program to generate a library of mutant mouse embryonic stem cells for research purposes.
SHIRPA is a standardized set of experimental procedures used by scientists to characterize the phenotype of genetically modified laboratory mice. The protocols are designed to test muscle function, cerebellar function, sensory function and neuropsychiatric function.
Glutaredoxin domain-containing cysteine-rich protein 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the GRXCR1 gene.
The International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC) is an international scientific endeavour to create and characterize the phenotype of 20,000 knockout mouse strains. Launched in September 2011, the consortium consists of over 15 research institutes across four continents with funding provided by the NIH, European national governments and the partner institutions.
In molecular biology, mutagenesis is an important laboratory technique whereby DNA mutations are deliberately engineered to produce libraries of mutant genes, proteins, strains of bacteria, or other genetically modified organisms. The various constituents of a gene, as well as its regulatory elements and its gene products, may be mutated so that the functioning of a genetic locus, process, or product can be examined in detail. The mutation may produce mutant proteins with interesting properties or enhanced or novel functions that may be of commercial use. Mutant strains may also be produced that have practical application or allow the molecular basis of a particular cell function to be investigated.
Ketan Jayakrishna Patel is a British–Kenyan scientist who is Director of the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine and the MRC Molecular Haematology Unit at the University of Oxford. Until 2020 he was a tenured principal investigator at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB).
Steve David Macleod Brown is director of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Mammalian Genetics Unit, MRC Harwell at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Oxfordshire, a research centre on mouse genetics. In addition, he leads the Genetics and Pathobiology of Deafness research group.