[3] Based on classical taxonomy, the Japanese house mouse was first described by Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck as a unique species, Mus molossinus in 1845 from a specimen discovered in Nagasaki.

The eastern European house mouse then invaded Japanese mainland from the southern end, and gradually progressed towards the northern region.

[10] The standard name is an abbreviation MISHIMA/Mishima designating the place of its origin, Mishima, a city of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, as first described in 2009.

In addition, its unique biological features make it a model animal in other genetic and disease investigations.

[12] It is also resistant to experimentally induced high-fat-diet diabetes, age-onset hearing loss, inflammation, and carcinogenesis.

Genome analysis shows that JF1 emerged as a reproductive fusion (introgression) of M. m. molossinus into European house mouse (M. m.

The first demonstration of Mendel's laws in animals was published by a British zoologist Arthur Dukinfield Darbishire in 1904 using this strain.

B. S. Haldane was inspired to conduct an experiment and first demonstrated genetic linkage in mammals in 1915 with the help of his sister Naomi and a friend Alexander Dalzell Sprunt.

[17][18] In the early 20th century, the mouse was an ideal model for production of different coat and eye colours, including fancy race mice, based on Mendelian genetics.

[14] This black coloured mouse is a sub-strain of C57BL/6 created in 1921 by C. C. Little at the Bussey Institute for Research in Applied Biology.