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Mouse inter-subspecific consomic strains for genetic dissection of quantitative complex traits.
Toyoyuki Takada1, Akihiko Mita, Akiteru Maeno
1Transdisciplinary Research Integration Center, Research Organization of Information and Systems, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan.
Genome Research
|February 8, 2008
Summary
Researchers created a full set of mouse consomic strains, replacing chromosomes of the C57BL/6J strain with those from MSM/Ms mice. These strains help identify genes controlling complex traits like reproduction and metabolism.
Area of Science:
- Genetics
- Genomics
- Animal Models
Background:
- Consomic strains, or chromosome substitution strains, are essential for mapping polygenes controlling complex traits.
- The laboratory mouse strain C57BL/6J (B6) and the wild-derived strain MSM/Ms represent distinct subspecies (Mus musculus domesticus and Mus musculus molossinus, respectively) with divergent genomes and phenotypes.
- Understanding genetic contributions to complex traits requires precise tools for genetic mapping.
Purpose of the Study:
- To generate a comprehensive set of mouse consomic strains, substituting each chromosome of the B6 strain with its MSM/Ms counterpart.
- To systematically phenotype these inter-subspecific consomic strains, focusing on complex traits in reproduction, growth, and energy metabolism.
- To identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and explore genetic interactions underlying phenotypic variation.
Main Methods:
- Construction of a full set of consomic mouse strains by substituting individual chromosomes of the C57BL/6J (B6) background strain with those from the MSM/Ms strain.
- Systematic phenotyping of the generated consomic strains across various complex traits, including reproduction, growth, and energy metabolism.
- Statistical analysis to detect significant QTLs and investigate potential nonadditive gene interactions (epistasis).
Main Results:
- Generation of a complete series of B6.MSM consomic strains.
- Detection of over 200 statistically significant QTLs associated with 26 different complex traits.
- Observation that phenotypic values in consomic strains sometimes exceeded the range of the parental strains, suggesting complex genetic interactions like epistasis.
Conclusions:
- The developed inter-subspecific mouse consomic strains are valuable resources for dissecting the genetic architecture of complex quantitative traits.
- These strains facilitate the identification of novel genetic components and interactions influencing traits relevant to reproduction, growth, and metabolism.
- The findings highlight the utility of consomic strains in uncovering latent genetic factors and understanding subspecies-specific trait variations.
