MontePython
Not so new Member
QS outbred stock question (Super Mice)
I just want to clear a few things up in my mind and hope you guys can help. The QS outbred stock was held as an outbred by keeping masive amounts of unrelated mice.
Once the hobiests got involved have they then slowly become an inbred stock because of lack of diversity and restrictions on numbers a single person could keep. Are we going to se inbreeding problems with these super mice in the near future or have some of you stabilized an inbred line pushing your stock past the 20 generation limit? If so what sort of problems did you encounter along the way.
This is assuming what we have in the hobby is QS and not QSi5 the inbred line anyway (which would solve all the outcrossing issues) and in my eyes would be the superior choice for small scale home use.
There is then the question of if QSi5 was the strain the public got hold of what outcrossing issues have been created in the hands of hobiests thinking they were doing the right thing by adding new blood for genetic diversity.
The reason I am asking is that I want to maintain a small population of supers but being a small population inbreeding of some degree will wesult in the F1 generation and then lessen as subsequent generations are produced.
I could speed up production of an inbred line by breeding straight back to parents as i won't have additional genes for the F1 gen to breed to but that would then result in a stock somewhere between an outbred and inbred until stable inbred lines are established.
My only other thought was to add new blood through Petshop bought animals or other supers from other breeders as there would be genetic diversity in their lines every couple of generations to help prevent inbred depression. Then select the best litter sizes and continue with as much diversity as possible.
There is also a bit of conflicting info out there as to the origins of the QS line some scientists saying it is an outbred and some saying it is an inbred (7 inbred were produced, 1 being continued in QSi5) If inbred then there would be no genetic problems so out crossing would not be needed.
Can anyone verify for sure which line is in the hobby, maybe the bloke who first got their hands on them, I know that is probably not a feasible question as the origins stem to the mid 80's.
Thanks
I just want to clear a few things up in my mind and hope you guys can help. The QS outbred stock was held as an outbred by keeping masive amounts of unrelated mice.
Once the hobiests got involved have they then slowly become an inbred stock because of lack of diversity and restrictions on numbers a single person could keep. Are we going to se inbreeding problems with these super mice in the near future or have some of you stabilized an inbred line pushing your stock past the 20 generation limit? If so what sort of problems did you encounter along the way.
This is assuming what we have in the hobby is QS and not QSi5 the inbred line anyway (which would solve all the outcrossing issues) and in my eyes would be the superior choice for small scale home use.
There is then the question of if QSi5 was the strain the public got hold of what outcrossing issues have been created in the hands of hobiests thinking they were doing the right thing by adding new blood for genetic diversity.
The reason I am asking is that I want to maintain a small population of supers but being a small population inbreeding of some degree will wesult in the F1 generation and then lessen as subsequent generations are produced.
I could speed up production of an inbred line by breeding straight back to parents as i won't have additional genes for the F1 gen to breed to but that would then result in a stock somewhere between an outbred and inbred until stable inbred lines are established.
My only other thought was to add new blood through Petshop bought animals or other supers from other breeders as there would be genetic diversity in their lines every couple of generations to help prevent inbred depression. Then select the best litter sizes and continue with as much diversity as possible.
There is also a bit of conflicting info out there as to the origins of the QS line some scientists saying it is an outbred and some saying it is an inbred (7 inbred were produced, 1 being continued in QSi5) If inbred then there would be no genetic problems so out crossing would not be needed.
Can anyone verify for sure which line is in the hobby, maybe the bloke who first got their hands on them, I know that is probably not a feasible question as the origins stem to the mid 80's.
Thanks
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