The UCSF Mouse Inventory Database Application, an Open Source Web App for Sharing Mutant Mice Within a Research Community.

The UCSF Mouse Inventory Database Application is an open-source Web App that provides information about the mutant alleles, transgenes, and inbred strains maintained by investigators at the university and facilitates sharing of these resources within the university community. The Application is designed to promote collaboration, decrease the costs associated with obtaining genetically-modified mice, and increase access to mouse lines that are difficult to obtain. An inventory of the genetically-modified mice on campus and the investigators who maintain them is compiled from records of purchases from external sources, transfers from researchers within and outside the university, and from data provided by users. These data are verified and augmented with relevant information harvested from public databases, and stored in a succinct, searchable database secured on the university network. Here we describe this resource and provide information about how to implement and maintain such a mouse inventory database application at other institutions.

Light-mediated inhibition of protein synthesis.

The regulation of protein synthesis is vital for a host of cell biological processes, but investigating roles for protein synthesis have been hindered by the inability to selectively interfere with it. To inhibit protein synthesis with spatial and temporal control, we have developed a photo-releasable anisomycin compound, N-([6-bromo-7-hydroxycoumarin-4-yl]methyloxycarbonyl)anisomycin (Bhc-Aniso), that can be removed through exposure to UV light. The area of protein synthesis inhibition can be restricted to a small light-exposed region or, potentially, the volume of two-photon excitation if a pulsed IR laser is the light source. We have tested the compound's effectiveness with an in vitro protein-translation system, CHO cells, HEK293 cells, and neurons. The photo-released anisomycin can inhibit protein synthesis in a spatially restricted manner, which will enable the specific inhibition of protein synthesis in subsets of cells with temporal and spatial precision.