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Although separated by 100 million years in evolution, humans
and mice share many of the same genes, according to a new analysis.
The comparison, which appeared in a recent issue of the journal
Science, is co-authored by researchers from Celera Genomics of
Rockville, Md., and geneticists from other institutions, including
Joe Nadeau from CWRU's School of Medicine and University Hospitals
of Cleveland.
The findings will play a crucial role in the study of human diseases
using mice and can lead to a greater understanding of the interplay
of genes in health and disease.
Although they mapped and compared the entire mouse genome with
the human genome, the researchers publish only the results of
their study of mouse chromosome 16. Chromosome 16 was chosen in
part because of its relation to Down Syndrome which is caused
by an extra copy of chromosome 21 in humans. Much of human chromosome
21 corresponds to mouse 16.
Looking for matches in the human genome, the researchers find
large regions of mouse chromosome 16 remarkably conserved in the
human genome. Of 731 protein-coding genes on the mouse chromosome,
70 percent are in the same order in the human genome. An example
of one of these genes is the one that plays a central role in
Alzheimer disease.
The percentage of genes that are unique to the mouse lineage,
based on the findings of chromosome 16 (14 of 731 genes) is likely
to be about two percent, according to the researchers. The similar
gene sequence, genetic content and arrangement of genes validates
the mouse as a model for many human diseases.
"The DNA sequence of the mouse genome, together with the differences
in DNA sequence between mouse strains that Celera studied, will
revolutionize mouse genetics. For the first time, we know the
DNA sequence and genetic variation of a model organism for many
human genetic diseases," said Nadeau, the James H. Jewell Professor
in Genetics and co-director of the Center for Computational Genomics
at CWRU. Nadeau assisted in the design of the study and in the
analysis and interpretation of the mouse DNA sequence.
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