New Models for Translational Vision Research Resource
JAX® NOTES Issue 506, Summer 2007
One of our senior staff scientists, Dr. Patsy Nishina, recently established and is directing a new resource for vision researchers. The goal of this Models for Translational Vision Research resource, funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI) and the Foundation for Fighting Blindness (FFB), is to establish and characterize 60 mouse models of ocular disease, map 30 of these models, and clone 10-15 of them in the next 5 years. All of these strains will be made available to the biomedical research community.
The models, all with a C57BL/6J (000664) background, are being generated as part of an ethylnitrosourea (ENU) mutagenesis screen and identified by slit lamp biomicroscopy, indirect ophthalmoscopy, and electroretinography. These screens will identify anterior and posterior segment mutants and mutants with functionally impaired retinas. So far, the resource has established 18 lines, with mutations in the following genes: rhodopsin (Rho), metabotropic glutamate receptor 6 (Grm6), c-mer proto-oncogene tyrosine kinase (Mertk), phosphodiesterase 6A (Pde6a), prefoldin5 (Pfdn5), retinitis pigmentosa GTPase regulator interacting protein 1 (Rgrip1), ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal esterase L3 (UchL3), and chloride channel 2 (Clcn2). Although some mutant phenotypes are similar to previously published ones, many are new and unique. For more information about this resource, please contact Dr. Nishina: patsy.nishina@jax.org.
