Conditional Allele Mouse Planner (CAMP): software to facilitate the planning and design of breeding strategies involving mice with conditional alleles

Transgenic Res. 2012 Jun;21(3):665-9. doi: 10.1007/s11248-011-9545-3. Epub 2011 Aug 26.

Abstract

Transgenic and conditional knockout mouse models play an important role in biomedical research and their use has grown exponentially in the last 5-10 years. Generating conditional knockouts often requires breeding multiple alleles onto the background of a single mouse or group of mice. Breeding these mice depends on parental genotype, litter size, transmission frequency, and the number of breeding rounds. Therefore, a well planned breeding strategy is critical for keeping costs to a minimum. However, designing a viable breeding strategy can be challenging. With so many different variables this would be an ideal task for a computer program. To facilitate this process, we created a Java-based program called Conditional Allele Mouse Planner (CAMP). CAMP is designed to provide an estimate of the number of breeders, amount of time, and costs associated with generating mice of a particular genotype. We provide a description of CAMP, how to use it, and offer it freely as an application.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Alleles*
  • Animals
  • Breeding / methods*
  • Female
  • Genotype
  • Inheritance Patterns
  • Litter Size
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout / genetics*
  • Software*
  • Time Factors