Protecting the humble mouse

October 2005

Monash University is at the forefront of efforts to preserve Australia's endangered species.

Report: Diane Squires
Photography: Max Deliopoulos, Greg Ford

GeneBank protected: Australia's New Holland Mouse.

The humble Anglesea New Holland Mouse could easily be mistaken for the common domestic variety. But although similar in size and colour, it is endangered, with only one left in captivity worldwide -- at Melbourne Zoo.

Fortunately, samples of the species' tissues are stored at the Animal Gene Resource and Storage Centre of Australia, based at Monash University.

The centre, a member of the Norwood Animal Conservation Group, is also home to the GeneBank -- the only such facility in the country -- a collection of frozen reproductive cells and genetic material from local wildlife.

Monash researcher Ms Natasha Czarny has been studying the genetic makeup of the Anglesea New Holland Mouse in an attempt to assure its future. She considers it a valuable part of Australia's ecosystem and is working to ensure enough samples are stored in the GeneBank to guarantee its survival.

Working with the zoo and the Department of Sustainability and Environment, Ms Czarny is investigating the genetic diversity of the Anglesea New Holland Mouse tissues and cell lines that have been grown and preserved in the GeneBank over the past three years

Future insurance: Dr Shae-Lee Cox says gene storage helps prevent extinction.

Dr Shae-Lee Cox, a research fellow with Monash's Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences and Animal Gene Resource and Storage Centre, says the facility is like an insurance policy for endangered species.

"While the facility has practical uses today, it is also an insurance policy to ensure that we have tissues and reproductive cells available so that in the future, when the technology is available, we can apply reproductive technology techniques," she says.

The bank is one of only five in the world. It holds about 1500 samples of more than 100 species of endangered Australian animals.

Dr Ian Gunn, who helped establish the facility in 1995, says it is a critical national resource, not just for wildlife but also for rare breeds of domestic animals.

"The bank is unique in that it preserves tissues from animals that are either endangered, threatened with extinction, rare breeds or a genetically diverse breed of a particular animal," Dr Gunn says.

"If we look at Australia's reputation and record of loss of native animals, it has been tremendous. What we are trying to do is make sure that even if we do lose the genetics of some species in the wild, we can maintain a genetic base within the GeneBank, so we always have samples there for further scientific studies or for assisted breeding in the future."

The GeneBank collects and stores reproductive tissue and cell lines for zoos across Australia for storage in the facility. Samples are frozen at minus 196 degrees in liquid nitrogen and include rhinoceros, elephants, northern hairy nosed wombats and bilbies -- and, of course, the New Holland Mouse.

The New Holland Mouse is described by the Department of Sustainability and Environment as Victoria's most endangered rodent.

Mice on ice: Ms Natasha Czarny checks the GeneBank's frozen gene samples.

It survives in only a few areas of Victoria -- Loch Sport, Wilson's Promontory and Providence Ponds. It can also be found on the mid-coast of New South Wales and in Tasmania.

Ms Czarny's studies show the gene lines found 10 years ago in the Anglesea population are present in the samples currently preserved in the GeneBank, a sign that genetic diversity has been maintained. The samples will aid future studies into artificial reproduction of the New Holland Mouse, using mice from the four Victorian populations.

"For instance, one day we could use the gene-banked eggs and sperm to perform in vitro fertilisation and produce a 100 per cent Anglesea New Holland Mouse embryo," Ms Czarny says. "We could then use an animal from Loch Sport to be the non-biological mother and carry the embryo to term.

"Thus potentially a Loch Sport female could give birth to a 100 per cent Anglesea animal."

For more information on the GeneBank, go to the Animal Gene Storage Resource Centre of Australia or contact +61 3 9905 1527.