Deer Mice As Laboratory Animals

Joyner, Charlotte P.; Myrick, Lisa C.; Crossland, Janet P.; Dawson, Wallace D.

doi:10.1093/ilar.39.4.322

Cited by 49 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…P. leucopus have life spans of up to 8 years (416 weeks) in captivity (Joyner et al, 1998), so these were mature but not aged animals. Four different experiments were carried out: 1, a group of 28 uninfected males; 2, a group with littermate-matched males and females; 3, a group of 30 males; and 4, a group of 30 females, for an overall total of 102 animals.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broad diversity of host responses of the white-footed mouse Peromyscus leucopus to Borrelia infection and antigens

Cook

Barbour

2015

Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases

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Peromyscus leucopus , the white-footed mouse, is one of the more abundant mammals of North America and is a major reservoir host for at least five tickborne diseases of humans, including Lyme disease and a newly-recognized form of relapsing fever. In comparison to Mus musculus, which is not a natural reservoir for any of these infections, there has been little research on experimental infections in P. leucopus. With the aim of further characterizing the diversity of phenotypes of host responses, we studied a selection of quantitative traits in colony-bred and –reared outbred P. leucopus adults that were uninfected, infected with the relapsing fever agent Borrelia hermsii alone, or infected after immunization with Lyme disease vaccine antigen OspA and keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH). The methods included measurements of organ weights, hematocrits, and bleeding times, quantitative PCR for bacterial burdens, and enzyme immunoassays for serum antibodies against both the immunization proteins and cellular antigens of the infecting organism. The results included the following: (i) Uninfected animals displayed wide variation in relative sizes of their spleens and in their bleeding times. (ii) In an experiment with matched littermates, no differences were observed between females and males at 7 days of infection in bacterial burdens in blood and spleen, relative spleen size, or antibody responses to the B. hermsii specific-antigen, FbpC. (iii) In studies of larger groups of males or females, the wide variations between bacterial burdens and in relative spleen sizes between individuals was confirmed. (iv) In these separate groups of males and females, all animals showed moderate-to-high levels of antibodies to KLH but wide variation in antibody levels to OspA and to FbpC. The study demonstrated the diversity of host responses to infection and immunization in this species and identified quantitative traits that may be suitable for forward genetics approaches to reservoir-pathogen interactions.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broad diversity of host responses of the white-footed mouse Peromyscus leucopus to Borrelia infection and antigens

Cook

Barbour

2015

Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases

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“…While the genetic causes and phenotypic consequences differ among strains, Peromyscus colonies are invariably susceptible to inbreeding depression, which necessitates their maintenance as relatively outbred stocks (Lacy et al, 1996; Joyner et al, 1998). Thus, although the deer mouse is amenable to laboratory life, its biology has not been purposely altered by generations of inbreeding or artificial selection.…”

Section: Peromyscus In the Laboratorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Peromyscus mice as a model for studying natural variation

Bedford

Hoekstra

2015

eLife

200

135

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The deer mouse (genus Peromyscus) is the most abundant mammal in North America, and it occupies almost every type of terrestrial habitat. It is not surprising therefore that the natural history of Peromyscus is among the best studied of any small mammal. For decades, the deer mouse has contributed to our understanding of population genetics, disease ecology, longevity, endocrinology and behavior. Over a century's worth of detailed descriptive studies of Peromyscus in the wild, coupled with emerging genetic and genomic techniques, have now positioned these mice as model organisms for the study of natural variation and adaptation. Recent work, combining field observations and laboratory experiments, has lead to exciting advances in a number of fields—from evolution and genetics, to physiology and neurobiology.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06813.001

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“…Therefore, Peromyscus mice are favored over the common mouse and the laboratory rat (rat, Rattus norvegicus ) in a variety of research fields. They are good models for the studies of aging, mammalian genomics, epidemiology, ecology, physiology, and evolution in addition to infectious and other human diseases (Joyner et al, 1998). For some studies, Peromyscus mice have distinct advantages as they have the wild counterparts for comparison, for example, to monitor environmental factors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cloning and molecular characterization of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) and telomere length analysis of Peromyscus leucopus

Zhao

Ueda

Alaks

et al. 2015

Gene

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Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) is the catalytic subunit of telomerase complex that regulates telomerase activity to maintain telomere length for all animals with linear chromosomes. As the Mus musculus (MM) laboratory mouse has very long telomeres compared to humans, a potential alternative animal model for telomere research is the Peromyscus leucopus (PL) mouse that has telomere lengths close to the human range and has the wild counterparts for comparison. We report the full TERT coding sequence (pTERT) from PL mice to use in the telomere research. Comparative analysis with eight other mammalian TERTs revealed a pTERT protein considerably homologous to other TERTs and preserved all TERT specific-sequence signatures, yet with some distinctive features. pTERT displayed the highest nucleotide and amino acid sequence homology with hamster TERT. Unlike human but similar to MM mice, pTERT expression was detected in various adult somatic tissues of PL mice, with the highest expression in testes. Four different captive stocks of PL mice and wild-captured PL mice each displayed group-specific average telomere lengths, with the longest and shortest telomeres in inbred and outbred stock mice, respectively. pTERT showed considerable numbers of synonymous and nonsynonymous mutations. A pTERT proximal promoter region cloned was homologous among PL and MM mice and rat, but with species-specific features. From PL mice, we further cloned and characterized ribosomal protein, large, P0 (pRPLP0) to use as an internal control for various assays. Peromyscus mice have been extensively used for various studies, including human diseases, for which pTERT and pRPLP0 would be useful tools.

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Deer Mice As Laboratory Animals

Cited by 49 publications

References 64 publications

Broad diversity of host responses of the white-footed mouse Peromyscus leucopus to Borrelia infection and antigens

Broad diversity of host responses of the white-footed mouse Peromyscus leucopus to Borrelia infection and antigens

Peromyscus mice as a model for studying natural variation

Cloning and molecular characterization of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) and telomere length analysis of Peromyscus leucopus

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