Mus musculus has long been used as a model organism for the study of human biology.1, 2 The conserved similarity between human and mouse at genetic, molecular, and physiological levels makes it a powerful tool which effectively contributes to human studies.3–5 However, not only do mice respond to drugs in ways that markedly differ from humans,6 but mouse strains carrying human genetic variance also frequently fail to fully mimic human phenotypes.7–9 Strikingly, a study that examined gene expression in human and mouse tissues reported transcript diversity between comparable tissues from human and mouse,10 which indicates fundamental differences between these two organisms. Finally, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) frequently identify disease-associated SNPs in noncoding genome, which may affect regulatory elements,11 but noncoding sequence is less conserved between species.12, 13 While the mouse remains a valuable model organism for studies of human biology, certain disease-associated phenotypes are better captured and examined in a human genetic background.
