Affymetrix and The Jackson Laboratory Launch First Genotyping Tool for Studying Mouse Strain Diversity

Affymetrix, Inc. and The Jackson Laboratory announce the full commercial launch of the Affymetrix® Mouse Diversity Genotyping Array. This is the first high-density genotyping array that enables researchers to study the complexity of the mouse genome and the diversity among mouse strains. Because mice and humans share genomes of similar size, content, and organization, mice studies are key elements in the quest to cure human health issues.

The array was developed in the laboratories of Fernando Pardo-Manuel de Villena, PhD, of the University of North Carolina, and Gary Churchill, PhD, of the Center for Genome Dynamics at The Jackson Laboratory. It is manufactured and sold by Affymetrix and is also available as part of a service from The Jackson Laboratory, a world leader in the study of mouse genetics for more than 80 years.

Reporting in the journal Nature Methods1, researchers showed that the Mouse Diversity Genotyping Array is the first that can simultaneously assay 623,124 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), a 100-fold increase over other currently available arrays, and more than 900,000 invariant genomic regions in the mouse genome. Researchers can use it to genotype virtually any mouse, identify genetic changes involved in disease phenotypes, and genetically monitor important laboratory mouse strains.

“The natural variation between inbred mouse strains provides us with an essential tool to study complex diseases involving the interaction of multiple genes. This is a focal point of biomedical research and drug efficacy testing,” said Jackson Lab Professor Gary Churchill. “Using Affymetrix technology, we have created a way for scientists around the world to analyze these variations with much greater specificity and data reproducibility.”

Through JAX® Services, The Jackson Laboratory offers array hybridization and computational analysis services to researchers worldwide. The JAX® Mouse Diversity Genotyping Array Service is being provided by the same microarray and computational analysis group that participated in the design, validation, and analysis of the Mouse Diversity Genotyping Array. The Jackson Laboratory has run more than 1,000 samples on this array and has developed tools that enable extremely accurate genotype calling.

“Two leading mouse geneticists have identified the most relevant and comprehensive collection of SNPs for studying mouse diversity,” said Kevin King, president and CEO of Affymetrix. “Affymetrix was able to screen these to find the highest performing SNPs, and we believe that together we have produced the best tool for meeting researchers’ needs.