Russia-Japan Cooperative Survey and Breeding of Wild Mice

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Collaborating mainly with Russian scientists, we collected about 400 individuals of wild mice from 18 localities in Russia. All of these mice were subjected by morphological (visual observation and measurement of bodies, type specimens with image data), karyological (C-banding pattern and FISH with centromere specific-probes), biochemical (polymorphisms of hemoglobin β chain, complement components, etc.) and genetical analyses (polymorphisms of mitochondrial, ribosomal and microsatellite DNA) to disclose their biological characteristics. Based on the studies, we found that there have been three subspecies of Mus musculus in Russia ; e.g. M.m. musculus, M m. castaneus and M.m. domesticus. M.m. musculus occupied major part of Russia, and M.m. castaneus did only in the Far-eastern coast of Russia. M.m. domesticus is a new member found in the Russia and is distributed near Vladivostok and its Northern area along railway, suggesting that the domesticus subspecies was recetly invaded into Russia from other habitat(s).After the analyses mentioned above, we discovered many mutants including hemoglobin β chain variants, deficiency of complement components and of mast cell activities in the colon, etc. We selected more than 25 breeding pairs including above-mentioned mutants and started to establish them to ve inbred strains at the Miyazaki Medical College (Dr. K.Tsuchiya). Ten strains have passed F5 generations. After their establishment as inbred strains, they will be provided to our mouse community as new biological resources.