背景:物种适应实验室条件是驯化的特例,它在表型和遗传上对模型生物进行了修饰。这些变化的特征对于理解这种变化如何影响生物实验的结果至关重要。然而,尽管在生物学研究中广泛使用实验动物,一些动物模型的不同菌株和种群内部和之间的遗传多样性知识仍然很少。这尤其是墨西哥的情况,自1864年以来一直被圈养。
结果:使用来自9个不同项目的基因表达数据,核苷酸序列变体进行了表征,并揭示了实验标本的独特遗传背景。这项研究提供了沿着预测的蛋白质编码基因的数千个核苷酸变体的目录,同时确定实验室人群中色素表型之间的全基因组差异。
结论:对遗传变异的认识可以指导更好的实验设计,同时有助于开发分子工具来监测遗传多样性和研究实验室中的基因功能。总的来说,这项研究强调了转录组数据可能必须评估实验样本的遗传变异的交叉分类的效用,这可能有助于缩短可重复研究的旅程。
BACKGROUND: Species adaptation to laboratory conditions is a special
case of domestication that has modified model organisms phenotypically and genetically. The characterisation of these changes is crucial to understand how this variation can affect the outcome of biological experiments. Yet despite the wide use of laboratory animals in biological research, knowledge of the genetic diversity within and between different strains and populations of some animal models is still scarce. This is particularly the
case of the Mexican axolotl, which has been bred in captivity since 1864.
RESULTS: Using gene expression data from nine different projects, nucleotide sequence variants were characterised, and distinctive genetic background of the experimental specimens was uncovered. This study provides a catalogue of thousands of nucleotide variants along predicted protein-coding genes, while identifying genome-wide differences between pigment phenotypes in laboratory populations.
CONCLUSIONS: Awareness of the genetic variation could guide a better experimental design while helping to develop molecular tools for monitoring genetic diversity and studying gene functions in laboratory axolotls. Overall, this study highlights the cross-taxa utility that transcriptomic data might have to assess the genetic variation of the experimental specimens, which might help to shorten the journey towards reproducible research.