Introduction to the Japan Mouse Clinic at the RIKEN BioResource Center

Abstract

A systematic and comprehensive phenotyping platform has been developed by the RIKEN ENU-mutagenesis project between 1999 and 2007. As a result of phenotype screening on this platform, we have discovered about 400 mutants as animal models for human diseases. All information regarding these mouse mutants is now available to the public through our home page (http://www.brc.riken.jp/lab/gsc/mouse/indexJ.html). In 2008, we reconstructed the existing phenotyping platform and built a new platform. The new system has a hierarchical structure, consisting of a fundamental pipeline that utilizes the existing platform and an additional pipeline, which is optimized for more in-depth phenotyping assays. Using this system, we have started to perform more comprehensive phenotyping of mouse mutants. We have opened this system to Japanese scientists as the Japanese Mouse Clinic. It is anticipated that existing mouse mutants will be reevaluated as disease models by identifying novel phenotypes on the new platform. We will share detailed information about the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of our phenotyping analyses with other related large-scale projects, such as the European Mouse Disease Clinic (EUMODIC) and the German Mouse Clinic (GMC). Moreover, we will contribute to international efforts to standardize mouse phenotype data by sharing annotation of mutant phenotypes, which are made by internationally standardized methods, with other related projects.

Mammalian-Specific Central Myelin Protein Opalin Is Redundant for Normal Myelination: Structural and Behavioral Assessments

“…Male WT (WT, n = 7) and knockout (KO, n = 7) mice between 8 and 17 weeks of age were used for a series of behavioral tests performed using standard procedures from the Japan Mouse Clinic [25]. …”

New insights into behaviour using mouse ENU mutagenesis

“…This particular paradigm quantifies the ability to respond to and filter auditory information, and is one parameter that can be analysed in mice as an endophenotype; the approximation of a similar response known to be abnormal in schizophrenia (5). Consequently, PPI and open field, along with rotarod testing for motor function and hotplate for nociception, make up the primary screen of several phenotyping pipelines (25,37,39,40). …”

Roles and Applications of Biomedical Ontologies in Experimental Animal Science

“…In the field of experimental animal science, a number of efforts have been made to develop advanced infrastructures for the discovery of new animal models for human diseases and biological functions through the production of new mutant animals [3,31,34,35,37]. In this context, the need for a more accurate integration of phenotype information based on raw experimental data has been recognized.…”