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Following an announcement earlier this year (see item in May 2002 newsletter), an international consortium has published a draft sequence and analysis of the genome of the common mouse, Mus musculus (see Nature, issue of 5 December). The significance of the achievement lies in the fact that for many years the mouse has been the main mammalian model used in genetic and biomedical research: in a commentary article in the same issue of Nature as the paper reporting the genome sequence, Allan Bradley, head of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, notes that “detailed analysis of organs tissues and cells reveals many similarities [with humans], extending to whole-organ systems, physiological homeostasis, reproduction, behaviour and disease.” The similarities between the mouse and human genomes have been known for some time but are highlighted by the detailed comparative analysis that is possible now that the full sequences of both are available. This analysis shows that, of about 30,000 genes in each organism, all but about 300 are shared. Systematic work is already underway to determine the functions and expression patterns of every mouse gene. The extensive genomic similarity between mouse and human, combined with the ease of genetic manipulation in the mouse, make it an invaluable experimental system for elucidating the genetic determinants of disease. Even the differences in disease initiation and progression between mouse and human may yield insights that could be helpful in the prevention or treatment of human disease.