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Model Organisms

Mouse

While Drosophila melanogaster has a very short life cycle and is very cheap to keep alive thousands of samples, mouse is the closest best studied organism to us, humans. The mouse genome is approximately the same size to our genome and it contains roughly the same amount of genes which are conserved in pretty much the same order.

Moreover, most human genes have homologs in mouse genome, especially some genes that are not found in other model organisms, like the genes responsible for the immune system, and same mutations in homologous genes usually cause same or similar problems. In fact, more than 95% of the mouse genome is similar to ours. These are only some advantages, others being that it is still cheap to study mice, plus they have relatively short breeding cycle (about 2 months) comparing to other mammals.

There are also a lot of different species of mice which can be used for interbreeding which usually results in highly heterozygous individuals. This is good for making detailed genetic maps and map genes related to diseases. Once we know the position of the particular gene, we can use that information to help us find the similar one in our genome.

Another good thing about mice is that congenics can be relatively easily created with use of advanced breeding techniques. Congenics are essentially two same organisms differing in only one gene. This is great for studying specific functions of a certain gene and potential mutations which may happen.

Mice have been used to study a lot of different things like development of body tissues, function of mammalian immune system, formation and function of brain and nervous system, gene regulation and others. They have been invaluable for the research regarding many diseases, some of which are cancers and tumors, of course, then infectious diseases, also Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, epilepsy, heart disease and many others.