PLoS Biol. 16, e2003538 (2018).

Mus musculus domesticus is a staple in biomedical research; the lab mouse’s wild counterpart is the same species. Whereas in the lab mice are often inbred and housed in tightly controlled conditions, mice living out their days in the wild are genetically diverse and subject to the vagaries of their natural environment. Not unlike people. To improve translational relevance when studying the immune system, recent papers have explored what happens when lab mice are introduced to ‘dirty’ conspecifics, and when they themselves are taken out to the field. But under it all, they’re still the same genetically similar animals. A new paper considers the immunobiology of wild mice, as they are in the field.

The researchers sampled wild mouse populations outside of Bristol, as well as from the tube in London and a small island near Wales, and characterized their innate and adaptive immune systems. The results are available in PLoS Biology.