摘要
With the completion of the human genome sequence,the last several decades have seen the pursuit of gene function in vivo.The mouse is generally considered the best model animal for examining gene function because of its high productivity,pure genetic background,and degree of similarity to the human genome.With the development of sev-
With the completion of the human genome sequence, the last several decades have seen the pursuit of gene function in vivo. The mouse is generally considered the best model animal for examining gene function because of its high productivity, pure genetic background, and degree of similarity to the human genome. With the development of several gene manipulation methodologies, mice are universally used to study genetics and human diseases. There are more than 20,000 protein-coding genes in the mouse genome. The International Knockout Mouse Consortium （IKMC） project was started to generate a knockout of every protein-coding gene in embryonic stem （ES） cells using standard knockout targeting strategies. Following completion of this project, the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium （IMPC） was established, with the aim of turning these ES cells into live mice, and exploring their potential defective phenotypes using a standard phenotyping pipeline. Globally, about 20 mouse clinics from Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, and Asia participated in this 10-year project, in which Model Animal Research Center of Nanjing University is the only one from China's Mainland. The combined data from these centers will represent a new data platform providing a gene function encyclopedia, and more importantly, a comprehensive picture of the whole genome.
