Researchers have sequenced the full mouse genome for the first time. The mouse has become only the second mammal after the human to have its entire genome laid bare, and University of Oxford researchers playing a key role. Knowledge of the full mouse genome will now allow scientists to neatly separate the biology humans share with mice from biology found in one species only. This will enhance scientists’ ability to select the genes most applicable to human disease when developing mouse models.

The project began in 1999 using DNA from one strain of laboratory mouse. Teams from around the world completed the marathon task of sequencing the mouse genome, passing on their new data to Dr Deanna Church of the National Center for Biotechnology Information in Maryland, who neatly pieced it all together.

It was then up to Dr Leo Goodstadt and Professor Chris Ponting in the MRC Functional Genomics Unit at the University of Oxford to figure out which genes were present as single copies in the genomes of both mouse and human, and are most likely to have the same function in both species.

The mouse, Mus musculus, is the animal model most often used to better understand human diseases and how they develop.

An improved understanding of the mouse genome, and so mouse biology, will enhance the utility of the mouse as a model for human disease.

University of Oxford