Dissection of behavior and psychiatric disorders using the mouse as a model

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Genetics
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Mouse genetic models are vital for elucidating molecular pathways in human diseases.
• Studying the genetic basis of psychiatric disorders increasingly utilizes mouse models.
• Candidate genes for psychiatric illness susceptibility can be assessed via mouse mutants.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recently generated behavioral mutants in mice.
• To provide an overview of common and robust behavioral phenotypes.
• To discuss the relevance of these phenotypes to human psychiatric disorders.

Main Methods:

• Phenotypic assessment of mouse mutants mapped to candidate regions for psychiatric illness.
• Identification of mouse mutants with characteristics corresponding to psychiatric disorder endophenotypes.
• Utilizing both targeted mutagenesis (reverse genetics) and random mutagenesis screens (forward genetics).

Main Results:

• Discussion of recently generated mouse behavioral mutants.
• Overview of established behavioral phenotypes and their utility.
• Examples of successful applications of mouse behavioral genetics.

Conclusions:

• Mouse behavioral genetics offers powerful tools for psychiatric disorder research.
• Understanding mouse endophenotypes provides insights into human disease mechanisms.
• Recent advances demonstrate the value of mouse models in psychiatric genetics.