Major development in mammalian genetics

Imagine a model mammalian organism for which any gene mutation could be accessed at will and studied in any cell type or in a whole organism. This possibility just came one step closer to reality. A project has been launched to mutate each gene in the mouse genome in embryonic stem cells. Each cell line would contain one distinct mutation. Because the mutations will be in embryonic stem cells, they can potentially be induced to form an intact mouse or a variety of mouse tissue types.

This research approach has already been pioneered to great effect in other eukaryotic models including Saccharomyces (yeast), C. elegans (nematode), Drosophila (fruit fly), Arabidopsis (plant) and zebrafish. The extension of this to mice enhances the genetic tools available to all mouse labs and research projects around the world and makes interesting large scale genetics projects possible.