AALAS Learning Library
In this course, a number of concepts are introduced that are central to the process of manipulating the mouse genome. This course begins with an introduction to mouse embryology, followed by a description of the most common techniques used to modify the mouse genome and the major types of genetic modifications. You will learn how new mouse strains are generated from genetically modified embryos, and how two strains can be mated to produce offspring that carry a mutation not present in either parent.
The learning objectives for this course are to enable you to:
- Describe the female reproductive tract, meiosis, embryo stages, how to obtain and collect embryos, and the implantation of embryos.
- Define a transgene, promoter, and reporter.
- Explain plasmid vectors, BACS and YACS, and spontaneous and induced mutations.
- Describe the process of gene insertion using pronuclear injection and some of the drawbacks of using this method.
- Define a transposon.
- Discuss what mouse embryonic stem cells are and why they are important in generating genetically modified mice.
- Understand the methodology used to produce gene-targeted mice.
- Understand what a chimera is and how to create one.
- Describe the Tet-ON/Tet-OFF system and the CreER system.
- Explain the difference between the three recombinases that are used to make a conditional knockout.
- Describe what Zinc Finger Nucleases, TALENs, and CRISPR/Cas9 technology are and how they work.
This course contains information for researchers, animal technicians, and facility managers who are involved in setting up, maintaining, and optimizing breeding colonies of genetically-altered mice. Course participants should be familiar with the basics of mouse breeding and husbandry, as covered in Colony Management I: Breeding and Recordkeeping and Colony Management II: Daily Workflow. After successfully completing this course, you should be able to:
- Discuss how to start a colony.
- Estimate the required size of a colony.
- Estimate the total number of mice to be produced.
- Describe how to obtain breeders.
- Identify troubleshooting strategies.
- Obtain embryos via superovulation.
- Explain rescue strategies and assisted reproductive technologies.
- Describe how to recovering live mice from frozen embryos or sperm.
AALAS has approved this course for 0.0 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for completing this course.