Mouse Brain Genome

The Allen Institute for Brain Science completed a gene atlas of the mouse brain last week. All the data on approximately 20,000 genes is available to everyone at the Allen Brain Atlas website and includes information on the sequence of primers for the genes as well as images of the mouse brain and gene activity. See below.

From the press release (pdf):

Since humans share more than 90 percent of their genes with mice, the Atlas offers profound opportunity to further understanding of human disorders and diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, schizophrenia, autism and addiction. About 26 percent of American adults – close to 58 million people – suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.

The Allen Institute’s next goal is to map genes from the human brain using cadavers and biopsies from recent brain surgeries.

Time, October 1, 2006

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