Russia-Japan Cooperative Survey and Breeding of Wild Mice

我们主要与俄罗斯科学家合作，从俄罗斯18个地区收集了大约400只野鼠。对所有小鼠进行了形态(肉眼观察和测量身体、模式标本和图像资料)、核型(C-显带模式和着丝粒特异探针FISH)、生化(Hbβ链、补体成分等)的检测。以及遗传分析(线粒体、核糖体和微卫星DNA的多态)，以揭示它们的生物学特征。根据这些研究，我们发现俄罗斯的小鼠有三个亚种，例如：小家鼠。Musculus、M.Castaneus和M.M.家养的。M.M.肌肉占据了俄罗斯的大部分地区，而M.M.卡斯塔尼乌斯只在俄罗斯远东海岸做到了这一点。M.M.家蝇是在俄罗斯发现的一个新成员，分布在符拉迪沃斯托克及其以北铁路沿线地区，表明家蝇亚种是最近从其他栖息地入侵俄罗斯的(S)。经过上述分析，我们发现了许多突变，包括血红蛋白β链变异、补体成分缺乏和结肠肥大细胞活性缺乏等。已有10株菌株通过了F5代。它们作为近交系建立后，将作为新的生物资源提供给我们的小鼠群体。

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.