Novel animal model by using high germline mutation rate

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25640047
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Laboratory animal science
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: YAGI Takeshi 大阪大学, 生命機能研究科, 教授 (10241241)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): UCHIMURA Arikuni 大阪大学, 生命機能研究科, 助教 (20513063)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 突然変異 / マウス / 疾患モデル / 進化 / 生殖系列 / DNA複製

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The germline mutation rate is an important parameter that affects genetic variation and the rate of evolution. In this project, we studied genome-wide mutation rates and their long-term effects on phenotype in more than 20 generations of wild-type C57BL/6 mice and mutator mice, which have high DNA replication error rates. The mutation rate in mutator mice was 17 times that in wild-type mice. Abnormal phenotypes were 4-fold more frequent in the mutator lines than in the wild-type lines. After several generations, the mutator mice reproduced at substantially lower rates than the controls, exhibiting low pregnancy rates, lower survival rates, and smaller litter sizes, and many of the breeding lines died out.

Free Research Field

遺伝学