The sequencing and annotation of the mouse genome, by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and others, created a powerful resource for researchers exploring mouse biology. Now new biological tools and the results of genetic experiments are offering even more help to mouse researchers.

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A major challenge in biomedical research is to disentangle the effects of multiple genes on complex biological traits, including common diseases. Mice have similar biology to humans but can be bred and analysed in ways impossible in humans.

Professor Jonathan Flint, Dr Richard Mott and colleagues at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford have been carrying out genome-wide analyses of complex traits in genetically mixed mice (as opposed to the 'pure' inbred strains usually used). As well as shedding light on the environmental and genetic influences on these traits, the results are also being made freely available on the web for researchers to explore particular traits in more detail. The methods also illustrate the potential for high-throughput genetic analysis in mice.

Meanwhile, the Sanger Institute continues to develop its mouse resources. Mouse sequence data, extensively annotated, are available through the Ensembl Mouse website. Biological tools include MICER and 'gene-trap' resources, which provide the means to generate genetically altered mice.

The Sanger Institute has also been awarded major funding from the US National Institutes of Health and the EU to generate a resource of mouse knockouts of 13 500 genes, as part of two international collaborations (KOMP and EUCOMM) aiming to mutate 95 per cent of mouse genes by 2011. As many as 2500 of these will be converted into mice to examine the role of single genes. All of these resources will be available to the scientific community.

Image: Labs at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

External links

• Valdar W et al. Genome-wide genetic association of complex traits in heterogeneous stock mice. Nat Genet 2006;38(8):879–87.
• Valdar W et al. Genetic and environmental effects on complex traits in mice. Genetics 2006;174(2):959–84.
• Cunningham F et al. TranscriptSNPView: a genome-wide catalog of mouse coding variation. Nat Genet 2006;38(8):853.