Inbred strain

[2] Certain plants including the genetic model organism Arabidopsis thaliana naturally self-pollinate, which makes it quite easy to create inbred strains in the laboratory (other plants, including important genetic models such as maize require transfer of pollen from one flower to another).

This work includes Medawar's research on immune tolerance, Kohler and Milstein's development of monoclonal antibodies, and Doherty and Zinkernagel's studies of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC).

The continuous overlaying of like genetics exposes recessive gene patterns that often lead to changes in reproduction performance, fitness, and ability to survive.

A hybrid between two inbred strains can be used to cancel out deleterious recessive genes resulting in an increase in the mentioned areas.

[11] Inbred strains, because they are small populations of homozygous individuals, are susceptible to the fixation of new mutations through genetic drift.

They further add that statistically every 6-9 generations, a mutation in the coding sequence is fixed, leading to the creation of a new substrain.

The latter project led to the development of the DBA strain of mice, now widely distributed as the two major sub-strains DBA/1 and DBA/2, which were separated in 1929-1930.

Evidence from the uniformity of mitochondrian DNA suggests that most of the common inbred mouse strains were probably derived from a single breeding female about 150–200 years ago."

"Many of the most widely used inbred strains of rats were also developed during this period, several of them by Curtis and Dunning at the Columbia University Institute for Cancer Research.

[1] A genealogical chart building on those relationships is actively maintained by the Jackson Laboratory,[7] and can be found on their website.

[14] Though there are many traits about zebrafish that are worthwhile to study including their regeneration, there are relatively few inbred strains of zebrafish possibly because they experience greater effects from inbreeding depression than mice or Medaka fish, but it is unclear if the effects of inbreeding can be overcome so an isogenic strain can be created for laboratory use.