Mouse Genetic Approaches to Access Pathways Important in Retinal Function

Abstract

Mouse models have been shown to be invaluable for studying ocular diseases and for furthering our understanding of these diseases. With their anatomical, physiological, and genetic similarities to humans, mouse models have proven to be important for identification of genes underlying inherited forms for retinal disease and for providing much needed tissue to study the pathological consequences of disease throughout the lifetime of the animal. In addition, to obtain these disease models we need not wait for spontaneous mutations to occur, new models can be created through the use of induced mutagenesis, transgenesis and homologous recombination. More recently, mouse models have been used to identify pathways in which particular molecules function through the use of genetic modifier screens and the comparison of gene expression or protein levels between mutant and wild-type mice. Such approaches, that are in some cases unique to mouse models, are described briefly in further detail below.