Strategies for Maintaining Mouse Mutations
- 1Department of Genetics and Development, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York 10032, USA
- 2Department of Genetics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
- ↵3Correspondence: vep1{at}columbia.edu
Abstract
Rules for naming a new mutation are provided. The majority of new mutations are recessive and thus easily maintained in a mouse strain. Considerations on the choice of genetic background are given, depending on how the mutant was produced and how you intend to analyze it. General information on maintaining a mutant colony to perpetuate the mutation and to efficiently produce homozygous mutant mice for analysis is provided. Also discussed are special breeding techniques to delete a selection cassette in vivo, if you produced the mutation in embryonic stem (ES) cells, and to maintain a mutant with a balancer chromosome. In the event of either male or female infertility in the heterozygotes, assisted reproductive techniques may be necessary.
Footnotes
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From the Mouse Phenotypes collection by Virginia E. Papaioannou and Richard R. Behringer.
