Biological methods for archiving and maintaining mutant laboratory mice. Part II: recovery and distribution of conserved mutant strains.

The mouse is now firmly established as the model organism of choice for scientists studying mammalian biology and human disease. Consequently, large collections of novel genetically altered mouse lines have been deposited in secure archives around the world. If these resources are to be of value to the scientific community, they must be easily accessible to all researchers regardless of their embryological skills or geographical location.This chapter describes how the archiving centres attempt to make the strains they hold visible and accessible to all interested parties, and also outlines the methods currently used in laboratories around the world to recover mouse strains previously archived using the methods highlighted in this manual (see Chapter 20).