The laboratory mouse is the most widely used animal model for studying the genetics and biology of mammalian development and reproduction. Embryonic stem cell (ESC) gene targeting technology, and the sophisticated genomic manipulations it allowed, was unique to this organism for a long period of time; this was a major factor in the mouse’s rise to pre-eminence as a model system over the past three decades or so. The recent advent of CRISPR/Cas9 technology has democratized the application of genome editing to essentially all organisms. Nevertheless, the scientific infrastructure behind the mouse still makes it the organism of choice for studying molecular mechanisms of mammalian development, and for modeling human development and disease.

中文翻译：

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一代条件投降：通过胚胎互补确定小鼠胚胎致死基因的生殖作用

实验室小鼠是研究哺乳动物发育和繁殖的遗传学和生物学的最广泛使用的动物模型。胚胎干细胞 (ESC) 基因靶向技术及其所允许的复杂基因组操作在很长一段时间内都是这种生物所独有的。这是过去三十年左右鼠标作为模型系统崛起的一个主要因素。最近 CRISPR/Cas9 技术的出现使基因组编辑在几乎所有生物体中的应用民主化。尽管如此，小鼠背后的科学基础设施仍然使其成为研究哺乳动物发育的分子机制以及模拟人类发育和疾病的首选生物。