# Do you ever think...



## Megzilla

...labs will release mice like the glow in the dark ones (I think they put it in for recessive?) for sale, and mice that live twice as long etc, like they did for hairless?


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## The Village Mousery

the twice as long life would be good


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## Megzilla

I'm trying to look up on Jax labs if anyone could buy them or just labs. The only problem with mice like that is that you have to buy them in large groups like 100


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## SarahC

most of the mice that have come from labs have been introduced to the mouse world by people working in labs that have joined the mouse fancy.Especially people interested in genetics.We need one of those amongst us.


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## Megzilla

My dream career is to work in a genetics lab?  I may take genetic studies at uni next year 
I need to find labs near me though- the only one in my area only studies plants ):


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## WoodWitch

megzilla92 said:


> My dream career is to work in a genetics lab?


Me too Megs....
I am studying Biology (as a mature student)
Genetics is not my forte but I _am_ a woman of Science and _will_ be a proper mad scientist one day.....in a lab coat.

I'll steal you all some green mice and share them out


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## SarahY

Oooh tratallen, can I have some zebra stripe mice please?!

Sarah xxx


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## WoodWitch

Well SarahY.....

If I know you at _*all*_, I have every confidence that you'll be the first breeder to make them :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Megzilla

Oh my goodness Naomi.. are you serious?! (':
It has been my dream ever since year 8 to keep and breed them (':


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## WoodWitch

I'm serious that I study science.

But Green mice and Zebra stripes......... :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Megzilla

No i believe you about the studying science, but can you seriously nab some glow-under-UV-mice?? :shock:


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## WoodWitch

Sorry to get you all excited Megs and sorry to disappoint you.
I was referring to times in the future, when we both work in the field and are in a position to get them.

Sorry


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## Megzilla

Ooowww ok, hopefully some day though


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## Jack Garcia

It's kind of an open secret that this is how splashed originally appeared in the fancy: a friend of a fancier (one is now deceased and the other I haven't heard from in years) brought them out of a lab, without the proper protocols and bred them. Honest mistake, really. :shhh

But don't forget that the labs are indebted to us, too! The fancy has existed longer than the laboratories so many of our "original varieties" like red exist in labs only because we gave them mice, many years ago. I mention red in particular because it has proven very useful to science due to its suitability for studies on cancer, obesity, and cuteness. Ok, not that last one.


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## Megzilla

Haha ok, so how can I go about trying to get a glow under UV? I can't really go 'I am a mouse breeder, therefore you owe me!' ):


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## WillowDragon

I believe it necassery to have 'connections' to the mousie lab world. As far as I know, labs in general don't sell to members of the public, even if we are breeders.
Labs sell in bulk, and generally the mice in question are specifically bred to either carry, show or be suseptable to certain diseases, cancers and viruses etc...

W xx


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## Rhasputin

Not to mention they are massively expensive. :? 
I think i saw that one lab was selling a certain strain of hairless for $50 a pop, and you had to order at least 50 mice. . . @[email protected]


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## SarahC

heres a question for you aspiring scientists.I was trawling through a mouse book that was about 100 years old for some info for a short piece for the club magazine.A breeder had paired up 2 pews and got a surprise of several uracoid mice in the litter :? I have searched for a definition and come up with no answer,therefore I'm assuming it's a scientific term :?:


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## Megzilla

WillowDragon said:


> generally the mice in question are specifically bred to either carry, show or be suseptable to certain diseases, cancers and viruses etc...


Labs genetically alter mice into different genetic strains. For example, one strain may have a weaker heart (used fr heart research etc), and another may be more vulnrable to a certain disease. Mice that Glow under UV was part of a stem cell research project. They planned it for only the brain stem cells to be effected, so that they could better observe how they work, but as it turns out, the stem cells in the brain and in the skin/hair folicals are extremely similar 

Sarah, I'll look into it- i'm interested now 

xx


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## Jack Garcia

Yeah, you have to have connections. Some varieties of mice run into the hundreds of dollars (USD) for a single mouse and are highly protected by various security codes, a room within a room, and so forth.


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## Megzilla

One of my old tutors used to work in a lab where they kept mice and beagles (she workeds as a puppy socialiser!!) and some strains of mice that would catch the attention of animal rights people would be kept under strict everything.


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## windyhill

I would love to get some glow in the dark mice!


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## Lizzle

:lol: I'm pretty sure a glow in the UV-light mousie wouldn't breed true since that's a transgenic thing, eh? If the gene is only put into a fertilized embryo and not into the RNA itself before mitosis/meiosis (I forget which), then I'm pretty sure the eggs or sperm released later in life from that mouse will not transmit the gene. I'm no geneticist, but that's how I always thought it worked.


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## zany_toon

lizashley said:


> :lol: I'm pretty sure a glow in the UV-light mousie wouldn't breed true since that's a transgenic thing, eh? If the gene is only put into a fertilized embryo and not into the RNA itself before mitosis/meiosis (I forget which), then I'm pretty sure the eggs or sperm released later in life from that mouse will not transmit the gene. I'm no geneticist, but that's how I always thought it worked.


As far as i can recall from my uni days of molecular genetics, the gene in order to be expressed has to be inserted into the DNA otherwise it wouldn't be expressed (so not into the RNA.) As the enzymes (which read the DNA during transcription to make RNA) need a DNA counterpart to create the RNA to make the proteins, the gene has to be inserted into the DNA (unless being used in bacteria phage as they are RNA based.) Most of the genes (as far as I am aware) that are used in transgenics are normally inserted into the unfertilized sex cells to ensure that all both sex cells on forming of a zygote will be able to combine to create a future organism that is capable of producing the protein in full. Alternatively they also insert the gene into a zygote (unicellular fertilised egg) to ensure that all cells following mitosis contain the gene. If only certain cells produced it, it may (and has) caused lack of the expression of the required genes although this can be done in some circumstances (such as in gene therapy.) So it is possible that future offspring would carry the inserted genes as in order to make the "new" proteins. However, in regards to the breeding of said glow in the dark mice, as they are still mainly used in the scientific community any found outwith the laboratories should be sterile to prevent future breeding and unsupervised interference in non-lab mice (think Jurassic park :lol:.) If any of this is wrong feel free to correct me :lol: My genetics and lab work is about 5 years out of date so things will have vastly changed since I was in a lab :lol:

I did come across the UV mice before and this seems to be the only authorised distributor. And is it just me or do these mice look rather poorly?? http://neonmice.com/index.htm

Edited: because I really can't spell!!!


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## Megzilla

Yes that's how it works  I think that's how they created double muscled cows, but they didn't make them sterile because they're now used in the beef industry ):

They do look very sick ): in one of the pictures the mouse looks dead! 

















The adult furred looks healthier though! But the only thing wrong with that picture is that if it's done the same way inwhich the originals were done, then the fur wouldn't glow! A white furred mouse may glow under UV, which is what I think has been done here. But the backround has been edited to be black.

Quite a dodgy company me thinks.. :?


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## zany_toon

megzilla92 said:


> Quite a dodgy company me thinks.. :?


Totally agree! I wouldn't count any company that considers selling genetically engineering mice that credible when you consider that many people would probably use a UV light to show off their unusual mouse (I know that most breeders wouldn't) and when you consider that UV light causes DNA damage at a base pair level, can you imagine some of the problems these poor mice could be facing as a result of the prolonged UV exposure?


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## Rhasputin

Even though that site advertises that they are selling them, if you go to buy one, it says they aren't commercially available. :lol:


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## zany_toon

Rhasputin said:


> Even though that site advertises that they are selling them, if you go to buy one, it says they aren't commercially available. :lol:


That I hadn't noticed but if I had to guess a reason why I would say it's because they are trying to get FDA approval for the mice. Now I would have thought that they couldn't sell them until they did...

And what are you up to missus trying to buy a UV glowing mouse? :lol: I have to admit that I am really curious as to how much they are!!


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## Rhasputin

Well I was just curious about their prices. :roll:

I'd be interested in the mice, only if they bred true, and were healthy.


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## Kallan

I looked into this a few months back.

The pictures above are from a company called neonMice, you can buy them as pets in the States - certain shops appear to stock them. They only sell neutered males, so you can't breed from them and start your own line. They have hairless lines and haired lines (hairless show the gene better and the skin fluoresces but the coat doesn't). I emailed to ask about shipping to the UK but never heard from them.

I have a few friends who work with glowy transgenic mice, and asked if they could get me some from the lab, but apparently Home Office rules in the UK state you can't keep transgenic animals unless at a registered research lab. Sucks  I really wanted some! Have glow in the dark rocks and all!


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