• BayGenomics ES Cell Lines

• Beta Cell Biology Consortium Collection

• Beutler Strains

• Comparative Mouse Genomics Centers Consortium

• Deltagen

• Gene Expression Nervous System Atlas

• Lexicon Pharmaceuticals

• Mammalian Pigmentation

• Mutagenesis for Dev. Defects/Baylor

• Nagy Basic ES Cell Lines

• Sanger Gene Trap ES Cell Lines

• Soriano Gene Trap ES Cell Lines

• UNC Mutagenized ES Cell Lines

• ES Cell Line Information

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals

Information excerpted from the Lexicon website; additional information can be found there.

Background

On October 5, 2005, NIH announced that contracts had been signed with two companies, Deltagen, Inc. and Lexicon Genetics, Inc. (now Lexicon Pharmaceuticals), to provide knockout mouse lines and extensive phenotyping data on them to NIH. This resource gives researchers unprecedented access to two private collections of knockout mice, providing valuable models for the study of human disease and laying the groundwork for a public, genome-wide library of knockout mice. The contracts also provide the opportunity for NIH to obtain up to 1500 additional mouse lines and phenotypic data over the next three years, pending available funds.

The Lexicon efforts are focused on gene families that are pharmaceutically important, such as transporters, G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), ion channels, kinases and other key enzymes, membrane proteins (e.g., receptors), and secreted proteins.

For each mouse line, Lexicon provided not only the mouse strain itself, but also detailed, objective data on the impact of the specific gene deletion on the mouse's phenotype, which includes appearance, health, fitness, behavior, ability to reproduce, and radiological and microscopic data. These detailed phenotypic data are available from the Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI) website, and a link to the data for each strain is provided in the MMRRC Strain Data Sheet. Such comprehensive information on such a large group of mice has never been available to public sector researchers, and is expected to greatly accelerate efforts to explore gene functions in health and disease.

For each mouse line, frozen embryos, sperm, and embryonic stem (ES) cells were obtained under the contract. The materials were divided between the NIH-sponsored Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Centers (MMRRC) facilities at UC Davis and the University of North Carolina.

MMRRC holdings

The MMRRC holds over 200 mutant strains produced by Lexicon in this collection.

Distribution

The contract provides NIH with irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free licenses to use and distribute to academic and non-profit researchers these lines of knockout mice. The mouse lines, most of which are stored in the form of frozen embryos, frozen sperm and frozen embryonic stem (ES) cells, are distributed using a Lexicon simple Letter Agreement.

Under the license agreement with Lexicon, researchers who receive the knockout mice lines through NIH are free to publish any results from research involving the line and also to seek patent or other intellectual property protection for any of the inventions or discoveries resulting from such research.

Related Links

• MMRRC catalog of all Lexicon lines
• Lexicon website
• Lexicon Simple Letter Agreement
• MGI's "Deltagen and Lexicon Knockout Mice" page