Abstract
The collaborative cross (CC) is a large panel of mouse-inbred lines derived from eight founder strains (NOD/ShiLtJ, NZO/HILtJ, A/J, C57BL/6J, 129S1/SvImJ, CAST/EiJ, PWK/PhJ, and WSB/EiJ). Here, we performed a comprehensive and comparative phenotyping screening to identify phenotypic differences and similarities between the eight founder strains. In total, more than 300 parameters including allergy, behavior, cardiovascular, clinical blood chemistry, dysmorphology, bone and cartilage, energy metabolism, eye and vision, immunology, lung function, neurology, nociception, and pathology were analyzed; in most traits from sixteen females and sixteen males. We identified over 270 parameters that were significantly different between strains. This study highlights the value of the founder and CC strains for phenotype-genotype associations of many genetic traits that are highly relevant to human diseases. All data described here are publicly available from the mouse phenome database for analyses and downloads.
Highlights
The mouse is the most extensively used mammalian model for biomedical research
After 2 weeks of acclimatization, mice were subjected to a phenotyping pipeline that encompassed 303 parameters in many phenotypic domains: allergy, behavior, cardiovascular analysis, clinical chemistry, hematology, dysmorphology including bone and cartilage, energy metabolism, eye analysis and vision, immunology, lung function, neurology, nociception, and pathology
The order of tests reflects the input of experts from global research institutes about optimal age for each test and to minimize carry-over effects between tests including having sufficient recovery time between tests, e.g., having glucose challenge be the only test in a week period (Karp et al 2015)
Summary
Mouse genetic reference populations (GRPs) have become an important experimental system to model the heterogeneity in the human population. Extended author information available on the last page of the article (Saul et al 2019). The eight founder strains represent the three major Mus musculus subspecies: M. m. By combining eight founder strains, the genetic and phenotypic diversity is similar to that of the human population. As the genomic sequences of the eight founder strains are available (Keane et al 2011; Lilue et al 2018), the CC represents an unprecedented and unique resource for genetic mapping and correlation studies (Roberts et al 2007). Detailed information about characteristics of the single founder strains can be found in
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