Genomically humanized mice: technologies and promises

This article describes the promising technologies for generating humanized mouse models — that is, mouse strains containing large sections of human coding and non-coding sequences — for the purposes of improving our understanding of basic genome function and disease and discovering effective therapies. Mouse models have become an invaluable tool for understanding human health and disease owing to our ability to manipulate the mouse genome exquisitely. Recent progress in genomic analysis has led to an increase in the number and type of disease-causing mutations detected and has also highlighted the importance of non-coding regions. As a result, there is increasing interest in creating 'genomically' humanized mouse models, in which entire human genomic loci are transferred into the mouse genome. The technical challenges towards achieving this aim are large but are starting to be tackled with success.