Mouse sequence published

15 August 2002

An international consortium including the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute has published the draft sequence of the mouse genome in the scientific journal Nature. The mouse is the first non-human mammal to be fully sequenced.

The mouse genome is strikingly similar to its human counterpart. Although at 2.5 billion nucleotides it is around 14 per cent smaller than the human genome, it contains about 30 000 genes, the vast majority of which appear to have equivalents within the human sequence.

In fact, the number of mouse-specific genes is remarkably small - only about 300 or so (roughly the same number that humans have but mice do not). The genes unique to the mouse are probably involved in the animal's reproduction, immunity and olfaction - consistent with the importance of the sense of smell in the mouse world. Oddly, humans even seem to have the genes that, in mice, are used to make a tail. The sequence data suggest that the ancestors of mice and humans diverged around 65-75 million years ago, around the time the dinosaurs became extinct.

The similarity between the two species is of enormous benefit to researchers investigating human biology. Careful aligning of the two sequences highlights regions of similarity, which are likely to be conserved genes - an approach that has helped identify 1200 new human genes. The close genetic relationship between the two animals also reinforces the importance of the mouse as a key model for understanding human biology and for exploring disease processes and possible treatments.

The first phase of the mouse genome project was funded through the Mouse Sequencing Consortium. The final phase was funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council and the US National Institutes of Health. Sequencing was carried out at the Sanger Institute, the Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts and Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, with many laboratories in the worldwide mouse research community contributing to the genome analysis. All data are freely released onto the web and can be accessed through free-access gene browsers such as Ensembl.

See also

• The Measure of Man (Mouse genome dictionary identifies 1200 new genes in the human book of life - Press release: 28 November 2002)

External links

• A physical map of the mouse genome, Nature 418, 743-750 (15 August 2002)
• Mouse genome project at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute: Further details
• Ensembl genome browser