It doesn't help that the microbiome is so variable that the communities in lab mice can differ if they belong to different strains, come from different vendors, were born to different mothers, or were reared in different cages.
The major work has been done in nematodes, fruit flies or laboratory mice — a variety of inbred strains coming originally from the house mouse (Mus musculus) — with a few other species, like the three-spined stickleback, finning in the background.
Thus, despite the similar seizure phenotypes of their mouse strains, the groups came to opposite conclusions as to whether LGI1 acts pre- or postsynaptically.
The problem arises because most of the experimental data comes from mouse strains different to the C57BL/6J reference genome.
Female C57BL/6 mice (strain number B6NTac) were purchased from Taconic.
Male C57BL/6J mice (strain number 000664) and NOD/ShiLtJ mice (strain number 001976) were purchased from Jackson Laboratory.
The mouse strains used by Willing et al. came from two different vendors, so it is not surprising that the composition of the gut microbiota in those animals differed significantly.
We compared telomere length distributions in a number of inbred and outbred established mouse strains with those of strains recently derived from wild mice.
All mouse strains were maintained on the C57BL/6 background.
& Mogil, J.S. Paclitaxel-induced neuropathic hypersensitivity in mice: responses in 10 inbred mouse strains.
