Sunday, December 1, 2019

A mouse lemur (Microcebus rufus) peering out of a bamboo shoot
A small species of mammal native to Madagascar is being studied in the hopes of it becoming a new model organism. The mouse lemur is a very small primate that is also extremely abundant. Several labs have already begun decoding the genome of the species and will try to publish their findings soon with the hopes of using the mouse lemur as a closer model organism for humans. The genome is believed to be more similar to humans than the mouse that is currently used by the majority of researchers.

This research seemed quite important to me as model organisms are very important to understanding the research done in genetics. If the mouse lemur is a new model organism it can help pharmaceutical research and genetics research.  The mouse lemur also made me laugh when I saw him so that was the main reason I chose this article.

Article:https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01789-0

2 comments:

  1. It is interesting that the mouse lemur is believed to be more similar to humans than mice are. Maybe using a new model organism will lead to greater advancements in medicine and more knowledge about the human body.

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  2. I am surprised to learn there is a rodent which has a genome similar to ours. I hope the closer dna match will prevent some unexpected side effects when it comes time to test on humans.

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