Animal Models

David R Beier, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Published online: January 2006

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0005680

There is a long-standing tradition of using a variety of animal models for genetic and functional studies relevant to human biology. Recent technical developments and the ongoing acquisition of genomic sequence have markedly enhanced the usefulness of such models.

Keywords: model organism; genetics; mouse; rat; zebrafish

 References
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 Further Reading
    Balling R (2001) ENU mutagenesis: analyzing gene function in mice. Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics 2: 463–492.
    Balmain A (2002) Cancer as a complex genetic trait: tumor susceptibility in humans and mouse models. Cell 108: 145–152.
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    Golling G, Amsterdam A, Sun Z, et al. (2002) Insertional mutagenesis in zebrafish rapidly identifies genes essential for early vertebrate development. Nature Genetics 13: 13.
    Hayashi S and McMahon AP (2002) Efficient recombination in diverse tissues by a tamoxifen-inducible form of cre: a tool for temporally regulated gene activation/inactivation in the mouse. Developmental Biology 244: 305–318.
    Jacob HJ and Kwitek AE (2002) Rat genetics: attaching physiology and pharmacology to the genome. Nature Reviews Genetics 3: 33–42.
    Lewandoski M (2001) Conditional control of gene expression in the mouse. Nature Reviews Genetics 2: 743–755.
    Moore KJ and Nagle DL (2000) Complex trait analysis in the mouse: the strengths, the limitations and the promise yet to come. Annual Review of Genetics 34: 653–686.
    Patton EE and Zon LI (2001) The art and design of genetic screens: zebrafish. Nature Reviews Genetics 2: 956–966.
    Stanford WL, Cohn JB and Cordes SP (2001) Gene-trap mutagenesis: past, present and beyond. Nature Reviews Genetics 2: 756–768.

Related Sub-Topics:

Model Organisms and Human Disease | Techniques and Tools in Molecular Biology
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Article Title: Animal Models
 
How to Cite close
Beier, David R(Jan 2006) Animal Models. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0005680]