On May 23, 2016, we notified you of an article published May 19 by Mahajan et al. in Cell Reports suggesting C57BL/6NHsd mice from Envigo carry a spontaneous Dock2 mutation. We committed to further investigate the presence or absence of the Dock2hsd mutation in the C57BL/6NHsd strain and related substrains bred at Envigo globally.
The results of our investigation indicate that the mutation is present in six of the 19 facilities in which we have maintained these models (see table below).
Spontaneous mutations can occur at any time and are not preventable. Additionally, the scientific literature describes multiple spontaneous mutations that have occurred within the C57BL/6 mouse from commercial suppliers, including but not limited to nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase (Nnt), alpha synuclein (Scna), multimerin 1 (Mnrn1), and retinal degeneration 8 (Rd8) (Chang et al., 2002; Huang et al., 2006; Reheman et al., 2010; Specht et al., 2001). Details regarding these mutations are available here.
As part of our ongoing commitment to provide our customers accurate information, we are now further analyzing the expression and characteristics of the Dock2hsd mutation in C57BL/6NHsd mice and hybrid mice with one C57BL/6NHsd parent and will provide these results once available.
The C57BL/6NHsd is utilized extensively in research and Envigo maintains this strain in multiple locations. Moving forward, we will continue to ship C57BL/6NHsd mice based on customer preference; please let us know if you would like to receive your animals from a specific location.
The Envigo scientific team has provided additional technical resources available at envigo.com/c57genotyping.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our technical team at tservice@envigo.com.
Thank you,
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Mark A. Mills
Vice President, RMS Commercial Operations, North America