title: [A new era in rat genetics].
abstract: Rat and mice are privileged tools for scientists. However, despite obvious advantages, such as a larger size, more faithful reproduction of human diseases, and utility for physiological and cognitive studies, rats have suffered from limited genetic technologies such as targeted mutagenesis. However, the gap between rat and mouse for genetic approaches will soon disappear with the recent advances of zinc finger nucleases applicable to early-stage rat embryos and the successful derivation of germ line competent rat ES cells, almost thirty years after murine ES cells. This will lead to new opportunities and to increase our capacity to model human pathologies.
authors.affiliation: Unité de génétique fonctionnelle de la souris, CNRS URA 2578, Institut Pasteur, 25, rue du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France. m-cohen@pasteur.fr
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cohen-Tannoudji
authors.forename: Jean-Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Guénet
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D002478:Cells, Cultured / Q000378:metabolism; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004260:DNA Repair; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004720:Endonucleases / Q000378:metabolism; D005544:Forecasting; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D023281:Genomics; D051379:Mice; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013045:Species Specificity; D016335:Zinc Fingers
chemical_list: D004247:DNA; D004720:Endonucleases