Genome-wide, large-scale production of mutant mice by ENU mutagenesis

In the post-genome era, the mouse will have a major role as a model system for functional genome analysis. This requires a large number of mutants sim ilar to the collections available from other model organisms such as Drosop hila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans. Here we report on a systemati c, genome-wide, mutagenesis screen in mice. As part of the German Human Gen ome Project, we have undertaken a large-scale ENU-mutagenesis screen for do minant mutations and a limited screen for recessive mutations'. In screenin g over 14,000 mice for a large number of clinically relevant parameters, we recovered 182 mouse mutants for a variety of phenotypes. In addition, 247 variant mouse mutants are currently in genetic confirmation testing and wil l result in additional new mutant lines. This mutagenesis screen, along wit h the screen described in the accompanying paper(2), leads to a significant increase in the number of mouse models(3) available to the scientific comm unity. Our mutant lines are freely accessible to non-commercial users (for information, see http://www.gsf.de/ieg/groups/enu-mouse.html).