Animals Models Flashcards
3Rs for animal model use
Replace- fund replacement
Reduce - use minimal animals to achieve max results
Refine - decree animal suffering
Pros of using embryos
Can look at developmental processes such as inheritable or multifactorial diseases. Often use for regenerative medicine and looking for signaling pathways
Ethical issues
Primates as a model has advatanges and disadvantages
What are they
Primates are the closest to human so they provide lots of info. However, they cost a lot to breed and the reproductive rate is low . Rarely used and also ethically questioned
Zebrafish as model , pros and cons
Zebrafish breed between a vertebrae and a fly and are very useful in observing developmental processes, behaviours and quantifiable phenotype due to its transparent bodies. They are relatively cheap to breed
Drosophila as model pros and cons
It has a 65% homogolous genome to human and hence good for identifying and observing genetics and mutations. It is very cheap and very reproduce very quickly
Also allow gene functoinobservation
How do produce a loss of function model ?
Make a mutant
Forward or reverse genetics
Ways of making a mutant
Imprecise excision of P element (a transposon) - use transposases to remove base pairs of gene to make mutant gene
- Use HR - crease crossover of target gene and introduced fragment to exchange genetic info
How do we make a gain of function model
Over express a gene (amplification)
Put target gene at a actively expressed promoter
- for instance, Gal4-UAS system (get a girl for your ass)
Gal is a TF which drive transcription of UAS sequence
Forward genetics
Make a mutant starting from random. Mutations and look for phenotype of interest
If AR- 25% of defect
Reverse genetics
Look at randomly generated phenotype using transgenic models and look at mutated genes
