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April 29, 2008
New tool scans the genome for disease-relevant variations (MDC Berlin)
Investigating the genetic background of major diseases has now become easier. As part of a European-Japanese Consortium (STAR), Dr. Kathrin Saar and Prof. Norbert Hübner from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, have constructed a genome map with more than 300 different rat strains. The researchers are convinced that this new tool can help understand the development of cardiovascular diseases or diabetes in laboratory rats as well as in humans. The paper of the STAR consortium has been published online in the current issue of the journal Nature Genetics* (Vol. 40, No. 5, pp. 560 – 566, 2008).
Laboratory rats are particularly suited for analyzing the genetic causes of epidemiological-relevant diseases. For over 150 years, scientists have been using laboratory rats as model animals in clinical research laboratories. It is known that the DNA sequence of every organism shows natural variations called “single nucleotide polymorphisms” or SNPs. Typically, the genome of an individual has several million SNPs and, thus, he or she differs at this level from others within the same species. Scientists investigate these SNPs to clarify whether they are linked to or influence the development of certain diseases. The MDC researchers and their colleagues in Europe and Japan have now identified three million SNPs in the genome of the rat. Thus, they were able to expand and improve upon the existing genomic map which until now was based on the analyses of only three rat strains.
FLI is a member of the STAR-consortium.
Laboratory rats are particularly suited for analyzing the genetic causes of epidemiological-relevant diseases. For over 150 years, scientists have been using laboratory rats as model animals in clinical research laboratories. It is known that the DNA sequence of every organism shows natural variations called “single nucleotide polymorphisms” or SNPs. Typically, the genome of an individual has several million SNPs and, thus, he or she differs at this level from others within the same species. Scientists investigate these SNPs to clarify whether they are linked to or influence the development of certain diseases. The MDC researchers and their colleagues in Europe and Japan have now identified three million SNPs in the genome of the rat. Thus, they were able to expand and improve upon the existing genomic map which until now was based on the analyses of only three rat strains.
FLI is a member of the STAR-consortium.
