Strains and stocks of mice most widely used in biomedical research are listed in Table 1. This is based on a PubMed search of the number of papers using the designated strain or stock for the years 2001-2005. Note that “genetically defined” (inbred, transgenic, knockout and congenic) mice were cited on about 2/3rds of occasions, but many of these will have had an inbred strain genetic background. Straight inbred strains accounted for about 1/3rd. of citations.
Individual inbred strains cited are listed in Table 2 in descending order of popularity. Strain BALB/c is clearly the most popular strain, followed by the two major sub-strains of C57BL. Together these account for approximately 2/3rds of all times that a strain is chosen..
A list of inbred strains and their characteristics is maintained on the Jackson Laboratory web site.
The International Mouse Strain Resource (IMSR) “.. is a searchable online database of mouse strains and stocks available worldwide, including inbred, mutant, and genetically engineered mice. The goal of the IMSR is to assist the international scientific community in locating and obtaining mouse resources for research. Note that the data content found in the IMSR is as it was supplied by data provider sites.” Click here for access.
The Mouse Phenome Database is a compilation of comparative phenotypic data on mouse inbred strains.
Extensive additional information is also available on the Jackson Laboratory main web site.
| Table 1. Types of mice and frequency of citations in the PubMed bibliographic database, 2001-2005 | ||
| Type | Number of citations | Percent |
|
Mice, inbred strains |
60,404 |
33.6 |
|
Mice, transgenic |
37,181 |
20.7 |
|
Mice, knockout |
22,965 |
12.8 |
|
Mice, congenic |
403 |
0.2 |
|
Mice, none of above |
59,062 |
32.8 |
|
Total |
180,015 |
100 |
|
Table 2. Inbred strains of mice and frequency of citations in the PubMed bibliographic database |
|||
|
MESH heading |
Mice, inbred strains |
Number of times cited |
Pecent (of inbreds) |
|
Yes |
BALB/c |
20,421 |
36.4 |
|
Yes* |
C57BL/6 |
10,279 |
18.3 |
|
Yes* |
C57BL/10 |
6251 |
11.1 |
|
Yes |
C3H |
3764 |
6.7 |
|
Yes |
ICR |
3502 |
6.2 |
|
Yes |
CBA |
2167 |
3.9 |
|
Yes |
A/J |
1771 |
3.2 |
|
Yes |
NOD |
1722 |
3.1 |
|
Yes* |
DBA/1 |
1199 |
2.1 |
|
Yes* |
DBA/2 |
1178 |
2.1 |
|
No |
MOLD |
877 |
1.6 |
|
No |
129 |
619 |
1.1 |
|
Yes |
HRS |
479 |
0.9 |
|
Yes |
MRL |
411 |
0.7 |
|
Yes |
NZB |
294 |
0.5 |
|
No |
NIH |
291 |
0.5 |
|
Yes |
AKR |
290 |
0.5 |
|
No |
SJL |
200 |
0.4 |
|
No |
NZW |
112 |
0.2 |
|
No |
CAST |
76 |
0.1 |
|
No |
KK |
58 |
0.1 |
|
Yes |
SENCAR |
56 |
0.1 |
|
No |
C57L |
36 |
0.1 |
|
No |
SAMR1 |
31 |
0.1 |
|
No |
SAMP1 |
30 |
0.1 |
|
No |
C57BR |
11 |
0 |
|
No |
NZO |
10 |
0 |
|
– |
Total |
56,135 |
100 |
|
* PubMed does not distinguish between sublines |
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