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Curious, but how does a researcher acquire cloned mice ? The JAX Mice, which are the most-published mouse models in the world[1] does not offer clones for sale
by louprado 10y ago
Curious, but how does a researcher acquire cloned mice ? The JAX Mice, which are the most-published mouse models in the world[1] does not offer clones for sale on their website. Anyone know the source and cost ?
[1]https://www.jax.org/jax-mice-and-services https://www.jax.org/jax-mice-and-services
- Terribledactyl 10y agoYou'd probably have to make them, or get a colleague to. Reading over this study, http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(13)00008-8 http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(13)00... and some of its citations it's within the means of a 3 person team.
- ghkbrew 10y agoI'm guessing GP is referring to the fact that most popular mouse strains for research are, in theory, isogenic (genetically identical). This is achieved by inbreeding the mice for multiple generations until they are statistically certain to be homozygous at every gene locus. The standard is 20 generations. Thus making all the mice in a strain as close genetically as clones or twins There are of course issues with random mutation. So the mice end up not being _exactly_ identical. JAX actually puts a lot of effort into trying maintain the genetic stability of their strains through methods such as freezing founder sperm and rebreeding it into later generations.
- jessriedel 10y agoNaive question: do the clones have to have all genes for recessive disorders eliminated so they can interbreed without risk? If so, how did they get that?
- ars 10y agoThey probably simply killed the ones with [noticeable] problems.
- ghkbrew 10y agoI've never done it, but I think those are just naturally bred out by breeding healthy mice from each successive generation.
- Someone 10y agoMany of the strains they sell aren't healthy. If you enter a condition or disease like 'lung cancer' or 'paralysis' in https://www.jax.org/mouse-search https://www.jax.org/mouse-search, you'll find they sell a mouse that's susceptible to a form of it. For example, https://www.jax.org/strain/004863 https://www.jax.org/strain/004863: "Homozygous Snap25 knock-out mice exhibit neonatal lethality. Late embryos lack spontaneous movement or sensorimotor reflexes, and abnormal innervation and muscle fiber development is observed." Breeding mice that die at birth is an unsolved problem I'm sure they are thinking of, so they sell the heterozygous variant (carriers of the gene)
- ralfd 10y ago> Breeding mice that die at birth is an unsolved problem I'm sure they are thinking of That sentence is both horrible, absurde, macabre and logical at the same time.