User:MichaK/Sandbox/Mouse
MichaK/Sandbox/Mouse | |
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Scientific classification | |
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Genus: | |
Subgenus: | Mus |
Species: | M. musculus
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Binomial name | |
Mus musculus Linnaeus , 1758 | |
Subspecies | |
The house mouse (Mus musculus) is a small rodent, a mouse, one of the most numerous species of the genus Mus.
As a wild animal the house mouse mainly lives associated with humans, causing damage to crops and stored food.
The house mouse has been domesticated as the pet or fancy mouse, and as the laboratory mouse which is one of the most important model organisms in biology and medicine. It is by far the most commonly used genetically altered laboratory mammal.[2]
Characteristics
House mice have an adult body length (nose to base of tail) of 7.5–10 cm (3.0–3.9 in) and a tail length of 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in). The weight is typically 10–25 g (0.4–0.9 oz). They vary in colour from white to grey, and light brown to black. They have short hair and a light belly. The ears and tail have little hair. The hind feet are short compared to Apodemus mice, only 15–19 mm (0.59–0.75 in) long; the normal gait is a run with a stride of about 4.5 cm (1.8 in), though they can jump up to 45 cm (18 in). The droppings are blackish, about 3 mm (0.12 in) long,[citation needed] and have a strong musty smell. The voice is a high-pitched squeak.[3][4]
House mice thrive under a variety of conditions: they are found in and around homes and commercial structures as well as in open fields and agricultural lands. House mice consume and contaminate food meant for humans, pets, livestock, or other animals. In addition, they often cause considerable damage to structures and property. They can transmit pathogens that cause diseases such as salmonellosis, a form of food poisoning.[5]
Young males and females are not easily distinguished: females have a significantly smaller distance between their anus and genital opening. Females have 5 pairs of mammary glands and nipples; males have no nipples.[citation needed] When sexually mature, the most striking and obvious difference is the presence of testicles on the males. These are large compared to the rest of the body and can be retracted into the body. In addition to the regular pea-size thymus organ in the chest, house mice have a second functional pinhead-size thymus organ in the neck next to the trachea.[6]
Subspecies
There are three widely accepted subspecies, increasingly treated as distinct species:[7][8]
- Mus musculus castaneus (southern and southeastern Asia)
- Mus musculus domesticus (western Europe, southwestern Asia, Americas, Africa, and Oceania)
- Mus musculus musculus (eastern Europe and northern Asia)
Two additional subspecies have been more recently recognized:[8]
- Mus musculus bactrianus (central Asia)
- Mus musculus gentilulus (Arabian Peninsula; Madagascar)[9]
Many more names have been given to house mice, but are now regarded as synonyms of other subspecies. Some populations are hybrids of different subspecies, including the Japanese house mouse ("molosinus").[8][10]
Behavior
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Mausprofil.jpg/220px-Mausprofil.jpg)
House mice usually run, walk or stand on all fours; but when eating, fighting or orienting themselves, they stand only on the hind legs, supported by the tail. When running the horizontal tail serves for balance; the end stands up vertically, unless the mouse is frightened. Mice are good jumpers, climbers, and swimmers.
Mice are mostly active during
House mice primarily feed on plant matter, but they will also accept meat and dairy products. Although they are generally known to like fruits, they are repelled by the scent of many varieties of artificial fruit scent, for example strawberry or vanilla-scented candles. The reason for this is unknown, although it dates back to antiquity when Roman Senators used candles scented with strawberry oils to keep mice out of their sleeping chambers. They will drink water but require little of it, relying mainly on the moisture present in their food. They will eat their droppings to acquire nutrients produced by bacteria in their intestines. House mice, like other rodents, do not vomit.
Mice are afraid of rats, which often kill and (partially) eat them. This rat behaviour is known as muricide. Despite this behaviour free-living populations of rats and mice do exist together in forest areas in New Zealand, North America and elsewhere. House mice are generally poor competitors and in most areas cannot survive away from human settlements in areas where other small mammals, such as wood mice, are present.[11] However in some areas (such as Australia) mice are able to co-exist with other small rodent species.[12]
Senses and communication
As primarily nocturnal animals, house mice have little or no
House mice also rely on pheromones for social communication, some of which are produced by the preputial glands of both sexes. The tear fluid and urine of male mice also contains pheromones, such as major urinary proteins.[13][14] Mice detect pheromones mainly with the vomeronasal organ (Jacobson's organ), located at the bottom of the nose.
The urine of house mice, especially that of males, has a characteristic strong odor. At least ten different compounds such as
Mice can sense surfaces and air movements with their
Life cycle and reproduction
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Babymouse.jpg/220px-Babymouse.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Spottedmouse.jpg/220px-Spottedmouse.jpg)
Female house mice have an
Male house mice court females by emitting characteristic ultrasonic calls in the 30 kHz - 110 kHz range. The calls are most frequent during courtship when the male is sniffing and following the female; however, the calls continue after mating has begun at which time the calls are coincident with mounting behaviour. Males can be induced to emit these calls by female pheromones. The vocalizations appear to be different in different individuals and have been compared to birdsongs because of their complexity.[16] While females have the capability to produce ultrasonic calls, they typically do not do so during mating behaviour.
Following copulation, female mice will normally develop a
House mice usually live under a year in the wild. This is due to a high level of
Mice and humans
House mice usually live in proximity to humans, in or around houses or fields. Originally native to Asia (probably northern India),[17] they spread to the Mediterranean Basin about 8000 BC, only spreading into the rest of Europe around 1000 BC.[18] This time lag is thought to be because the mice require agrarian human settlements above a certain size.[18] They have since been spread to all parts of the globe by humans.
Many studies have been done on mouse phylogenies to reconstruct early human movements. For example one study showed a previously unsuspected early link between Denmark and Madeira on the basis of the origin of the Madeiran mice.[19]
House mice can transmit diseases, and can damage food and food packaging. Some of the diseases the house mouse carries can be deadly; for example,
The first written reference to mice kept as pets occurs in the
Mice as an invasive species
Laboratory mice
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Lab_mouse_mg_3263.jpg/220px-Lab_mouse_mg_3263.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/Lab_mouse_mg_3308.jpg/220px-Lab_mouse_mg_3308.jpg)
Mice are the most commonly used animal research model with hundreds of established inbred, outbred, and transgenic strains. In the United States, they are not regulated under the
Mice are common experimental animals in biology and psychology; primarily because they are mammals, are relatively easy to maintain and handle, reproduce quickly, and share a high degree of homology with humans. The mouse genome has been sequenced, and many mouse genes have human homologues.
In addition to being small, relatively inexpensive, and easily maintained, there are further benefits to the use of mice in laboratory research. Because mice can reproduce quickly, several generations of mice can be observed in a relatively short period of time.[24]
Most laboratory mice are hybrids of different subspecies, most commonly of Mus musculus domesticus and Mus musculus musculus. Laboratory mice come in a variety of coat colours including agouti, black and
The first such inbred strains were produced by Clarence Cook Little in 1909. Little was influential in promoting the mouse as a laboratory organism.[25]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Lightmatter_lab_mice.jpg/220px-Lightmatter_lab_mice.jpg)
Genome
Sequencing of the mouse
Mutant and transgenic strains
Various mutant strains of mice have been created by a number of methods:
- Mice resulting from ordinary breeding.
- diabetes mellitus type 1.
- MRL mice, mice with unusual regenerative capacities.[29]
- "Waltzing" mice, which walk in a circular pattern due to a mutation adversely affecting their inner ear.
- transplantation.
- Severe Combined Immunodeficient or SCID mice, with an almost completely defective immune system.
- Transgenic mice, with foreign genes inserted into their genome.
- Abnormally large mice, with an inserted rat growth hormone gene.
- Oncomice, with an activated oncogene, so as to significantly increase the incidence of cancer.
- Doogie mice, with enhanced NMDA receptor function, resulting in improved memory and learning.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Knockoutmouse80-72.jpg/220px-Knockoutmouse80-72.jpg)
- Knockout mice, where a specific gene was made inoperable by a technique known as gene knockout; the purpose is to study the function of the gene's product or to simulate a human disease.
- Fat mice, prone to obesity due to a carboxypeptidase E-deficiency.
- Strong muscular mice, with a disabled myostatin gene, nicknamed "mighty mice."
Since 1998, it has been possible to clone mice from cells derived from adult animals.
References
- ^ "Mus musculus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008. 2008.
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ignored (help) - ^ the National Centre for Replacement, Refinement, and Reduction of Animals in Research
- ^ Lyneborg L (1971). Mammals of Europe. Blandford Press.
- ^ Lawrence MJ, & Brown RW (1974). Mammals of Britain Their Tracks, Trails and Signs. Blandford Press.
- ^ 12
- PMID 16513945.)
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- PMID 9755213.
- PMID 2613534.)
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ Tattersall FH, Smith RH & Nowell F (1997). "Experimental colonization of contrasting habitats by house mice". Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde. 62: 350–358.
- doi:10.1071/WR99016.
- PMID 16208374.)
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- PMID 11555245.)
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ American Fancy Rat and Mouse Association
- ^ a b the Rat and Mouse Club of America
- ^ Wanless RM, Angel A, Cuthbert RJ, Hilton GM & Ryan PG. "Can predation by invasive mice drive seabird extinctions?". Biology Letters. 3.
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- ^ http://www.informatics.jax.org/greenbook/frames/frame11.shtml
- ^ http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/full/161/4/1357
- ^ No items found - Books Results
- ^ http://www.ensembl.org/Mus_musculus/index.html Ensembl gene build 47, based upon NCBI assembly m37, Apr 2007
- ^ http://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/index.html Ensembl gene build 47, based upon NCBI assembly 36, Oct 2005
- ^ http://jaxmice.jax.org/strain/002983.html
![]() | This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (April 2009) ) |
- Musser, G.G. and Carleton, M.D. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894–1531 in Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference. 3rd ed. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols., 2142 pp. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0
- Nyby J. (2001) Auditory communication in adults. Chapter 1 in Handbook of Mouse Auditory Research: From Behavior to Molecular Biology. James F. Willott, Ed. CRC Press, Boca Raton. 2001, 3-18.
External links and sources
{{TaxonIds |wikispecies=Mus musculus |ncbi=10090 |namebank=5461627 |eol=328450 |itis=180366 |others=[http://arctos.database.museum/name/Mus%20musculus Arctos] }}
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Wikispecies-logo.svg/34px-Wikispecies-logo.svg.png)
Genomics
- Ensembl Mus musculus genome browser, from the EnsemblProject
- Vega Mus musculus genome browser, includes NOD mouse sequence and annotation
Media
- Pictures, movies and applets showing the anatomy of Mus musculus, from www.digimorph.org
- Michael Purdy: "Researchers add mice to list of creatures that sing in the presence of mates"-Study of male mouse "song" with mouse song recording (MP3), by Washington University Medical School
- Arkive Photographs.Short text.
- High-Resolution Brain Maps and Brain Atlases of Mus musculus
Further reading
- Biology of the Mouse, from the Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association
- Nature Mouse Special 2002
- Biology of Laboratory Rodents by David G. Besselsen
- Comprehensive house mouse information, including pictures, by the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
- 'Fancy Mice', includes much behavioural and physiological information
- Some information on muricide
- Vocalizations during copulation
External links and sources (test case of few links)
{{TaxonIds |wikispecies=Mus musculus |ncbi=10090 |namebank=5461627 |eol=328450 |itis=180366 |others=[http://arctos.database.museum/name/Mus%20musculus Arctos] }}
- Ensembl Mus musculus genome browser, from the EnsemblProject
- Vega Mus musculus genome browser, includes NOD mouse sequence and annotation