Anything But Modest: The Mouse Continues To Contribute To Humankind

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Anything But Modest: The Mouse Continues To Contribute To Humankind

http://medicalnewscenter.com/out/out.cgi?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080807130923.htm

" Big things come in small packages, " the saying goes, and it couldn't

be more true when discussing the mouse. This little creature has

become a crucial part of human history through its contributions in

understanding human genetics and disease.

http://medicalnewscenter.com/out/out.cgi?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080807130923.htm

In a review published in Disease Models & Mechanisms (DMM), genetics

researchers from Yale University School of Medicine and Fudan

University School of Life Sciences discuss the history and future of

mice as a model organism. They predict that the next frontiers in

mouse genetics – such as creating mice expressing human genes to

create " humanized " mice – will continue to provide scientists with

new tools to not only decipher clinical mysteries, but also to test

novel therapies and cures.

The review's authors, Duc Nguyen and Tian Xu, discuss the many ways

in which scientists manipulate mouse genes in order to study their

biology. One such technique that Nguyen and Xu are working on

involves inserting a segment of DNA sequence into the much lengthier

full genome of the mouse. These insertable DNA sequences are known as

transposons. Use of transposons, as well as other genetic tools,

allows scientists to disrupt a specific mouse gene and deduce the

gene's function by studying the effect on the mouse. The hope is that

the research community can combine the results of extensive mouse

studies into a comprehensive library to form a functional map of the

mouse genome. Such a map will help researchers navigate and explore

the even more extensive human genome to pinpoint the genetic

underpinnings of human disease.

Not only do the researchers discuss how mice help us understand

disease, but they also highlight methods which enable research of

novel disease therapies. For example, humanized mice – mice

engineered to carry human genes – can provide new experimental

systems for testing new therapeutics.

The full review can be found in the inaugural July/August issue of a

new research journal, Disease Models & Mechanisms (DMM), published by

The Company of Biologists, a non-profit based in Cambridge, UK.

The DMM website is located at: http://dmm.biologists.org