Scientists spent nearly a century to complete the breeding of the first batch of experimental rats. Early experimental mice only carried part of the genetic diversity of wild mice. Nowadays, there are hundreds of varieties of experimental mice, but they have very few traits with human genetic characteristics, and there are great limitations to the research on genes that cause human diseases. To change this situation, the US Department of Energy ’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory launched a research project called “Collaborative Hybridization†in 2005 to select and breed new experimental mouse species with genetic diversity.
Through the selection of inbreeding and hybridization with wild breeds, the project has created a total of 30 inbreeding mouse families. There is a significant difference between the new experimental rats and the general experimental rats currently used: from the change in fur color to the length of the tail, it provides clues for the study of anti-infection genes.
In addition, the researchers also tested about 66 inbreeding species, infecting Aspergillus fumigatus fungus (a soil fungus that causes respiratory diseases in humans) in their susceptible state. The result is that the mice can survive for 4 to 28 days after being infected. Based on the genetic information of the new varieties and the genome sequencing of the eight original varieties, the researchers drew a map of the differences in the genomic regions containing a few genes during the survival time. Researchers are also using the same method to find genes that appear in anti-Klebsiella pneumoniae.
At present, the "Cooperative Hybridization" project is collaborating with the University of North Carolina. It is planned to cultivate several pairs of new experimental rat breeds before the end of this year. By 2012, the breeding and breeding capacity will be increased to 100.
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