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Colony Management

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Advanced Protocols for Animal Transgenesis

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Abstract

Technical advances in the generation of genetically modified (GM) mice and the efforts of large-scale consortia have provided a wealth of resources to the biomedical research community. It has never been easier to obtain a specifically modified allele. However, the establishment and production of GM mouse models using basic breeding methods can still present a unique set of challenges. This chapter aims to equip those new to mouse colony management with some valuable tools. Topics covered include basic reproduction and inheritance, welfare assessment, nomenclature, breeding schemes, and calculators for the production of desired genotypes. Breeding of transgenic founders or chimeras through the first generations is discussed as well as the influence of strain background on this process. Animal records management systems also play an important role in effective colony management.

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Abbreviations

BLASTN:

Basic local alignment search tool for nucleotide sequence comparison

cM:

Centimorgans

CRL:

Charles River Laboratory

ES cell:

Embryonic stem cell

FISH:

Fluorescent in situ hybridization

GM:

Genetically modified

GPL:

General public license

het:

Heterozygous

hom:

Homozyogous

ILAR:

Institute for Laboratory Animal Research

JCMS:

The Jackson Laboratory’s Colony Management System

MACS:

Marker assisted congenic screening

MEF:

Mouse embryonic fibroblast

MGD:

Mouse Genome Database

MGI:

Mouse Genome Informatics

PCR:

Polymerase chain reaction

RFID:

Radio frequency identification

TJL:

The Jackson Laboratory

wt:

Wild type

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the following people for their generous assistance in preparing this chapter: Ruth Arkell, Michael Dobbie, Holger Maier, Kristina Nagy, Thomas Preiss, and Duncan Sparrow.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Lowy Packer Building, 405 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia

    Karen Brennan

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  1. Karen Brennan
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Correspondence to Karen Brennan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Div. Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91125, California, USA

    Shirley Pease

  2. Transgenic Animal Model Core, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109-5674, Michigan, USA

    Thomas L. Saunders

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© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Brennan, K. (2011). Colony Management. In: Pease, S., Saunders, T. (eds) Advanced Protocols for Animal Transgenesis. Springer Protocols Handbooks. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20792-1_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20792-1_22

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-20791-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-20792-1

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