Studying Genetically Altered Mice in Behavioral Genetics

The field of behavioral genetics is rapidly expanding. It is very common to change the mouse gene and observe its effect. Therefore, it is appropriate to use a specific test that can demonstrate the phenotype of the behavior of the organism. When testing the effects of genetic change, it is first necessary to confirm that all necessary genotypes are representative. These included homozygous and heterozygous mice without genetic modification as controls, and wild type mice.

Different laboratory conditions change neurochemistry, gene expression, and nerve regeneration 15 For example, in one study, mice were genetically engineered to develop aortic defects. However, if you put the mouse in a larger cage, these defects almost completely disappear. The type affects whether the medicine is beneficial or not.

The ability to insert, modify or remove genes in model organisms allows scientists to study the genetic factors of human disease. Transgenic mice were created in 1984 and have cloned oncogenes that make them susceptible to cancer. This technique is also used to create knockout mice. The first recorded knockout mouse was created by Mario R. Capecchi, Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies in 1989. In 1992, the tumor suppressor gene was knocked out. Creating knockout mice is much more difficult, only possible in 2003.

These similarities have become even more powerful over the past 20 years. Scientists are now able to breed genetically engineered mice called "transgenic mice", which have genes similar to those that cause human diseases. Likewise, according to the FBR, the selected gene may be invalidated or invalidated, evaluating the effect of a carcinogenic chemical substance (carcinogen) and evaluating the safety of the drug " Knockout mouse ".

In the late 1990's, the invention of the so-called "Schwarzenegger mouse" quickly achieved the possibility to change genes to build better players. Since these mice are genetically engineered to increase muscle growth and muscle strength, they were given a nickname (McPherron et al., 1997; Barton-Davis et al., 1998). The goal of developing these mice is to research muscle diseases and restore muscle mass reduction during age. Interestingly, the Schwarzenegger mouse is not the first in its class; the title belongs to the Belgian blue bull (Figure 1) which is a special breed known for its huge muscle mass. Those animals produced by selective breeding have a mutated non-functional copy of the myostatin gene, which typically controls muscle development. Without this control cattle muscles will not stop growing (Grobet et al., 1997). But does giving ideal characteristics produce more harmful results than the other?