Abstract
Researchers using rabbit models to study diverse projects such as infectious diseases, atherosclerosis, antiviral treatments, toxicology, diabetes, transplantation, eye diseases (both inherited and infectious), milk production, breed sizes, quantitative traits, immunology, and transgenics will all benefit from the upcoming newly compiled Oryctolagus cuniculus genomic sequence. The Broad Institute's Rabbit Genome Project was designed to encompass a deep full coverage that will be both a comprehensive and powerful resource for rabbit researchers and the rabbit industry alike. Comparative genomics, disease traits, and the selection for resistance/susceptibility to important human pathogens are likely to benefit from this new database. In addition, the domestic rabbit is an important research tool to study other genetic predispositions including inherited hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis, glaucoma, and diabetes, and for the production of polyclonal antibodies and biopharmaceuticals via transgenics. Transgenic rabbit models for studying the genetics of specific diseases continue to expand the knowledge of these processes in humans and provide excellent preclinical models for therapeutic treatments. Rabbits also are excellent models to study immune responses to various pathogens and are used extensively to make specialized antibody reagents for the research community.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The Laboratory Rabbit, Guinea Pig, Hamster, and Other Rodents |
| Publisher | Elsevier |
| Pages | 165-193 |
| Number of pages | 29 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780123809209 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2012 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
- General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology