Lectures and seminars Webinar: All in the family - The ignored world of substrains of inbred mice
The aim of these CPD webinars (Continuing professional development) is to follow the legal requirements for maintenance and demonstration of competence in laboratory animal science, and to facilitate the implementations of the 3R’s in routine animal work.
Speaker
Prof. Fernando Benavides, Dept. of Epigenetics and Molecular Carcinogenesis, The University of Texas - M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA.
Registration
Register here (by Feb 13, 16.00 CET)
Abstract
With this presentation, I want to create awareness on the existence of a variety of substrains of mice that, if ignored, could potentially affect the results and/or repeatability of some experiments.
Most mouse users are not fully aware that inbred strains of mice are actually distributed in “families” of related substrains that stem from a common ancestral strain and that these present several genetic differences. Over the years, while permanent inbreeding effectively eliminates a proportion of new mutant alleles, another undetected fraction may become progressively fixed in the homozygous state, replacing the original allele, a process known as genetic drift.
Mutations that are hidden in the genomes of substrains are sometimes referred to as passenger mutations. Most of the passenger mutations carried by substrains are quiet, hence, there is no obvious phenotype as a result of the mutation. However, there are many examples in the literature where substrains originating from the same inbred strain have acquired new phenotypes as a consequence of the genetic drift.
Contact
E-mail: las-edu@km.ki.se