Mouse Colony Data Management.

In this unit we discuss the importance of implementing a data management system for research animal colonies. We focus on drivers such as ethical considerations, cost, and data integrity. We also discuss keys to effective data management and important considerations for adopting or building a data management system, and present an overview of some of the currently available colony and laboratory data management systems.

Searching QTL by gene expression: analysis of diabesity.

Background: Recent developments in sequence databases provide the opportunity to relate the expression pattern of genes to their genomic position, thus creating a transcriptome map. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) are phenotypically-defined chromosomal regions that contribute to allelically variant biological traits, and by overlaying QTL on the transcriptome, the search for candidate genes becomes extremely focused.

Results: We used our novel data mining tool, ExQuest, to select genes within known diabesity QTL showing enriched expression in primary diabesity affected tissues.

Development of a SNP genotyping panel for genetic monitoring of the laboratory mouse.

We have developed a genotyping system for detecting genetic contamination in the laboratory mouse based on assaying single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers positioned on all autosomes and the X chromosome. This system provides a fast, reliable, and cost-effective way for genetic monitoring, while maintaining a very high degree of confidence. We describe the allelic distribution of 235 SNPs in 48 mouse strains, thereby creating a database of polymorphisms useful for genotyping purposes.