Passenger Mutations Confound Interpretation of All Genetically Modified Congenic Mice.

ABSTRACT: Targeted mutagenesis in mice is a powerful tool for functional analysis of genes. However, genetic variation between embryonic stem cells (ESCs) used for targeting (previously almost exclusively 129-derived) and recipient strains (often C57BL/6J) typically results in congenic mice in which the targeted gene is flanked by ESC-derived passenger DNA potentially containing mutations. Comparative genomic analysis of 129 and C57BL/6J mouse strains revealed indels and single nucleotide polymorphisms resulting in alternative or aberrant amino acid sequences in 1,084 genes in the 129-strain genome. Annotating these passenger mutations to the reported genetically modified congenic mice that were generated using 129-strain ESCs revealed that nearly all these mice possess multiple passenger mutations

SUBMITTER: Vanden Berghe T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4800811 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature