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The Norway rat, from an obnoxious pest to a laboratory pet

The laboratory rat was the first mammal domesticated for research purposes. It is descended from wild Norway rats, Rattus norvegicus, which despite their name likely originated in Asia. Exceptionally adaptable, these rodents now inhabit almost all environments on Earth, especially near human settlem...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Modlinska, Klaudia, Pisula, Wojciech
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6968928/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31948542
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.50651
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author Modlinska, Klaudia
Pisula, Wojciech
author_facet Modlinska, Klaudia
Pisula, Wojciech
author_sort Modlinska, Klaudia
collection PubMed
description The laboratory rat was the first mammal domesticated for research purposes. It is descended from wild Norway rats, Rattus norvegicus, which despite their name likely originated in Asia. Exceptionally adaptable, these rodents now inhabit almost all environments on Earth, especially near human settlements where they are often seen as pests. The laboratory rat thrives in captivity, and its domestication has produced many inbred and outbred lines that are used for different purposes, including medical trials and behavioral studies. Differences between wild Norway rats and their laboratory counterparts were first noted in the early 20(th) century and led some researchers to later question its value as a model organism. While these views are probably unjustified, the advanced domestication of the laboratory rat does suggest that resuming studies of wild rats could benefit the wider research community.
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spelling pubmed-69689282020-01-22 The Norway rat, from an obnoxious pest to a laboratory pet Modlinska, Klaudia Pisula, Wojciech eLife Ecology The laboratory rat was the first mammal domesticated for research purposes. It is descended from wild Norway rats, Rattus norvegicus, which despite their name likely originated in Asia. Exceptionally adaptable, these rodents now inhabit almost all environments on Earth, especially near human settlements where they are often seen as pests. The laboratory rat thrives in captivity, and its domestication has produced many inbred and outbred lines that are used for different purposes, including medical trials and behavioral studies. Differences between wild Norway rats and their laboratory counterparts were first noted in the early 20(th) century and led some researchers to later question its value as a model organism. While these views are probably unjustified, the advanced domestication of the laboratory rat does suggest that resuming studies of wild rats could benefit the wider research community. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2020-01-17 /pmc/articles/PMC6968928/ /pubmed/31948542 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.50651 Text en © 2020, Modlinska and Pisula http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Ecology
Modlinska, Klaudia
Pisula, Wojciech
The Norway rat, from an obnoxious pest to a laboratory pet
title The Norway rat, from an obnoxious pest to a laboratory pet
title_full The Norway rat, from an obnoxious pest to a laboratory pet
title_fullStr The Norway rat, from an obnoxious pest to a laboratory pet
title_full_unstemmed The Norway rat, from an obnoxious pest to a laboratory pet
title_short The Norway rat, from an obnoxious pest to a laboratory pet
title_sort norway rat, from an obnoxious pest to a laboratory pet
topic Ecology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6968928/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31948542
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.50651
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