Table 3.
Comparison between mouse and zebrafish.
| Characteristic | Mus musculus (mouse) | Danio rerio (zebrafish) |
|---|---|---|
| Maintenance and breeding | ||
| Cost and time for animal husbandry | Modest (£2.5 per week, 8 animals per cage) | Low (£4 per week, 20 animals per tank) |
| Facility housing and space required | High | Low |
| Sexual maturity | ~6-8 weeks | ~6-9 weeks |
| Life span | ~2 years | ~3.5 years |
| Fertilization and development | Internal | External/fast development |
| Control of fertilization time | Limited | High, upon exposure to daylight |
| Number of offspring per female | Up to a dozen per month | Up to 200 per week |
| Genomics | ||
| Size of genome | GRCm38.p6: ~3.49Gbp | GRCz11: ~1.67 Gbp |
| Number of chromosomes | 2n=38+2(X/Y) | 2n=50 |
| Coding genes | 24,278 (MGI, July 2020) | 25,592 (GRCz11, May 2017) |
| Non-coding genes | 16,074 | 6,599 |
| Coding genes with human orthologs | ~76% | ~71% |
| Genome engineering and transgenesis | ||
| Genome manipulation | Modest | Relatively easy |
| Costs of establishing a stable line | High | Low |
| Forward genetic screening | Yes (high costs) | Yes (modest costs) |
| Reverse genetic screening | Yes | Yes (modest costs) |
| Mosaic (G0) screening | Non-applicable | Yes (modest costs) |
| Skeletal phenotyping and imaging | ||
| in vivo imaging and cell tracking | Available (modest) | Easy |
| First bones appear | E13.3 (chondrocytes); E15.5 (ossification centres) | 3 days post-fertilization |
| Imaging of early skeleton phenotype | Modest (invasive) | Easy (translucent) |
| Availability of exoskeleton? | No (except teeth) | Yes (fins, scales) |
| Visualisation of adult bone fracture | Invasive | Non-invasive (fins) and invasive (vertebral column) |
| X-ray (TMD) | Easy | Easy (full body, relative TMD) |
| µCT (TMD) | Easy | Easy (bone structure) |
| Biomechanical tests | 3-point-bending, vertebral compression, nanoindentation | nanoindentation, vertebral compression |
| Selected repositories for bone phenotypic data | International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC) (www.mousephenotype.org) | There is not a specific database available |
| INFRAFRONTIER (www.infrafrontier.eu) | ||
| Origins of Bone and Cartilage Disease (OBCD) (www.boneandcartilage.com) | ||
| Mouse Genome Informatics- The Jackson Laboratory (www.informatics.jax.org) https://bonebase.lab.uconn.edu/ | ||