Non-invasive ovulation tracking enables genetic engineering in wild rodents.

ABSTRACT: Many non-model rodent species are inaccessible to genetic engineering due to our limited understanding of their reproductive biology. Here, we present a low-cost, camera-based estrous-tracking technology that enables transgenesis in the white-footed mouse Peromyscus leucopus, a key reservoir for Lyme disease. We demonstrate the efficient generation of pregnant and pseudopregnant mice via timed ovulation, provide protocols for embryo generation, cultivation, microinjection, and transplantation as well as an accurate developmental timeline, and report the first engineered Peromyscus. The same technology successfully tracked conserved estrous-linked cycling behavior in other rodents, including hamsters. Finally, estrous tracking differentiated reproductively healthy, geriatric female Peromysc

SUBMITTER: Buchthal J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12946743 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature