CFW Outbred GWAS

Description

Carworth Farms White (CFW) mice are a commercially available outbred mouse population that exhibits rapid LD decay in comparison to other available mouse populations. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of behavioral, physiological, and gene expression phenotypes using 1,200 male CFW mice. We used genotyping by sequencing (GBS) to obtain genotypes at 92,734 SNPs. We also measured gene expression using RNA sequencing in three brain regions. Our study identified numerous behavioral, physiological, and expression quantitative trait loci (QTLs). We integrated the behavioral QTL and eQTL results to implicate specific genes, including Azi2 in sensitivity to methamphetamine and Zmynd11 in anxiety-like behavior. The combination of CFW mice, GBS, and RNA sequencing constitutes a powerful approach to GWAS in mice.