title: Progress and prospects in rat genetics: a community view.
abstract: The rat is an important system for modeling human disease. Four years ago, the rich 150-year history of rat research was transformed by the sequencing of the rat genome, ushering in an era of exceptional opportunity for identifying genes and pathways underlying disease phenotypes. Genome-wide association studies in human populations have recently provided a direct approach for finding robust genetic associations in common diseases, but identifying the precise genes and their mechanisms of action remains problematic. In the context of significant progress in rat genomic resources over the past decade, we outline achievements in rat gene discovery to date, show how these findings have been translated to human disease, and document an increasing pace of discovery of new disease genes, pathways and mechanisms. Finally, we present a set of principles that justify continuing and strengthening genetic studies in the rat model, and further development of genomic infrastructure for rat research.
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre and Imperial College London, Du Cane Road, London W12 0NN, UK. t.aitman@csc.mrc.ac.uk
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Aitman
authors.forename: John K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Critser
authors.forename: Edwin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cuppen
authors.forename: Anna
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authors.lastname: Dominiczak
authors.forename: Xose M
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Fernandez-Suarez
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Flint
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gauguier
authors.forename: Aron M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Geurts
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gould
authors.forename: Peter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Rikard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Holmdahl
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hubner
authors.forename: Zsuzsanna
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Izsvák
authors.forename: Howard J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kuramoto
authors.forename: Anne E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Kwitek
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marrone
authors.forename: Tomoji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mashimo
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mullins
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mullins
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Olsson
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pravenec
authors.forename: Lela
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saar
authors.forename: Tadao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Serikawa
authors.forename: James D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Shull
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Szpirer
authors.forename: Simon N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Twigger
authors.forename: Birger
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Voigt
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Worley
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018390:Gene Targeting; D030342:Genetic Diseases, Inborn / Q000235:genetics*; D016678:Genome; D023281:Genomics / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D051381:Rats / Q000235:genetics*