The structure of the mouse natriuretic peptide type-B (BNP) gene was determined by isolating and sequencing genomic clones. The mouse BNP gene was structurally similar to other natriuretic peptide genes and comprised three exons and two introns. Expression of the mouse BNP gene was found only in cardiac tissue as determined by ribonuclease protection analyses. Initiation of transcription was 31...

To discover genes influencing cerebellum development, we conducted a complex trait analysis of variation in the size of the adult mouse cerebellum. We analyzed two sets of recombinant inbred BXD strains and an F2 intercross of the common inbred strains, C57BL/6J and DBA/2J. We measured cerebellar size as the weight or volume of fixed or histologically processed tissue. Among BXD recombinant inb...

Inbred mouse strains differ in their capacity to deiodinate iododioxin and iodothyronines, with strains segregating into high or low activity groups. Metabolism of iododioxin occurs via the type I iodothyronine 5'deiodinase (5'DI), one of two enzymes that metabolize thyroxine (T4) to 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3). Recombinant inbred strains derived from crosses between high and low activity stra...

Virtually all of our present understanding of endogenous murine leukemia viruses (MLVs) is based on studies with inbred mice. To develop a better understanding of the interaction between endogenous retroviruses and their hosts, we have carried out a systematic investigation of endogenous nonecotropic MLVs in wild mice. Species studied included four major subspecies of Mus musculus (M. m. castan...

The structure of the mouse natriuretic peptide type-B (BNP) gene was determined by isolating and sequencing genomic clones. The mouse BNP gene was structurally similar to other natriuretic peptide genes and comprised three exons and two introns. Expression of the mouse BNP gene was found only in cardiac tissue as determined by ribonuclease protection analyses. Initiation of transcription was 31...

The Collaborative Cross (CC) is a renewable mouse resource that mimics the genetic diversity in humans. The recombinant inbred intercrosses (RIX) generated from CC recombinant inbred (RI) lines share similar genetic structures to those of F(2) individuals. In contrast to F(2) mice, genotypes of RIX can be inferred from the genotypes of their RI parents and can be produced repeatedly. Also, RIX ...

Recombinant inbred (RI) systems such as the BXD mouse family represent a population with defined genetic architecture and variation that approximates those of natural populations. With the development of novel RI lines and sophisticated methods that conjointly analyze phenotype, gene sequence, and expression data, RI systems such as BXD are a timely and powerful tool to advance the field of beh...

SYSTEMS BIOLOGY IS “the study of the interactions between the components of biological systems and how these interactions give rise to the function and behavior of that system” (ref. Wikipedia). Ideally the practice of systems biology is a cyclical process that alternates between stages of mathematical modeling and experimentation. A model is a quantitative description of the system. By solving...