Impact of genomics on research in the rat

Abstract

The need to translate genes to function has positioned the rat as an invaluable animal model for genomic research. The significant increase in genomic resources in recent years has had an immediate functional application in the rat. Many of the resources for translational research are already in place and are ready to be combined with the years of physiological knowledge accumulated in numerous rat models, which is the subject of this perspective. Based on the successes to date and the research projects under way to further enhance the infrastructure of the rat, we also project where research in the rat will be in the near future. The impact of the rat genome project has just started, but it is an exciting time with tremendous progress.

Proteomic profiling of animal models mimicking skeletal muscle disorders

“…Naturally, the application of proteomics has also revolutionized the study of animal models mimicking human diseases. A better understanding of animal models of disease through genomics, proteomics and metabolomics is already clearly evident in the field of biomedicine [27][28][29]. Since the screening of patient samples usually requires very large experimental repeats due to considerable interindividual differences in humans, the usage of inbred and therefore genetically more homogeneous animal models is certainly advantageous in the initial search for new biomarkers of pathological processes.…”

Chromosome-substituted rat strains provide insights into the genetics of placentation

“…23; rat QTLs can be found at http:// rgd.mcw.edu/). Although none of these QTLs directly reflect parameters associated with placentation, several impact growth, vascular function, and metabolism, which could indirectly impact placental development.…”

Influence of extenders and cooling rates on epididymal sperm of Lewis rat strain

“…Rats have been used for biomedical and genomic research for long time and a useful model for human disease (26,44). Currently, many inbred mutant and genetically modified rat strains are not available to researchers, and many mutant rat strains have been lost because of inadequate resources to maintain breeding population (1).…”