| September 11, 2009 |
MGI Gene-trapped Allele Update
Gene trapping is a high-throughput method of randomly disrupting genes by inserting a reporter element into the genome of mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. Gene traps usually disrupt the affected gene while also reporting the expression pattern of the gene itself.
MGI has just added over 500,000 gene-trapped mouse cell lines and gene trap sequences from the NCBI Genome Survey Sequences Database (dbGSS). The additional sequences include those from the International Gene Trap Consortium (IGTC) and Lexicon Genetics.
MGI Gene-trapped Allele Detail pages (Figure 1) provide the following information:
- Sequence tag information, including genome coordinates
- A genome browser view of the gene trap insertion
- Information about the parent stem cell line and the gene trap vector used to produce each mutant
- Identification of any mouse models with phenotypic similarity to human diseases associated with the allele
- Links to the International Mouse Strain Resource (IMSR) for access to available mouse strains and cell lines
All MGI Allele Detail pages now make it easier to Find Mice in the International Mouse Strain Resource (IMSR) by noting whether strains or cell lines carrying a particular allele are available in the IMSR and if the mice or cell lines carrying the mutation are publicly available. For example, the Find Mice (IMSR) section of the Allele Detail page for Alms1 gene trapped allele (Figure 1) shows that it is available as a cell line (though mice carrying it are not available), and that six other (seven total) mice strains or cells lines carrying any Alms1 mutation are available.
Please send questions and comments to MGI User Support at mgi-help@informatics.jax.org.
Figure 1. The Alms1Gt(XH152)Byg Gene trapped Allele Detail page showing genome coordinates, cell line and vector details, IMSR information, and phenotypic data. View gene trapped allele detail.
