Abstract
Outbred mouse stocks, often used in genetics, toxicology and pharmacology research, have been generated in rather haphazard ways. Understanding the characteristics of these stocks and their advantages and disadvantages is important for experimental design. In many studies these mice are used inappropriately, wasting animals' lives and resources on suboptimal experiments. Recently, however, researchers from the field of complex trait analysis have capitalized on the genetics of outbred stocks to refine the identification of quantitative trait loci. Here we assess the most widely used outbred stocks of mice and present guidelines for their use.
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Acknowledgements
We thank R.D. Mastrocco for information about Clara Lynch; J. Eppig, R. Hitzemann, H. Jacob, M. Josten, R. Kalman, I. Martin, G. McClearn, R. Mott, J. Stitzel and R. Williams for personal communications; R. Young for graphics; and the Brain Research Trust and the Motor Neuron Disease Association for funding.
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M.F.W.F. has a consultancy with Harlan Limited.
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Genealogy of major Swiss mice outbred stocks. (PDF 181 kb)
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Chia, R., Achilli, F., Festing, M. et al. The origins and uses of mouse outbred stocks. Nat Genet 37, 1181–1186 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1665
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1665
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