Mus_musculus AnAge entry for Mus musculus

Classification (HAGRID: 03063)

Taxonomy
Kingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
            Order: Rodentia
                Family: Muridae
                    Genus: Mus
Species
Mus musculus
Common name
House mouse
Synonyms
Mus molossinus, Mus nordmanni, Mus musculus cinereomaculatus, Mus bactrianus tantillus, Mus musculus varius, Mus molossinus yonakuni

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

IMR
0.01/year
MRDT
0.3 years
Maximum longevity
4 years (captivity)
Source
ref. 506
Sample size
Large
Data quality
High
Observations

A major model of biomedical research, mice are amongst the fastest ageing mammals exhibiting a variety of physiological, functional and pathological changes with age. The record longevity for normal mice is 4 years, belonging to one male specimen from a wild-derived strain kept in the lab [0506]. Mutant and caloric restricted mice, however, can live over 4 years [0011], though these are not deemed suitable for species comparisons; amongst these, record longevity belongs to a mutant dwarf mouse that lived 1819 days (Andrzej Bartke, pers. comm.). Smaller mice tend to live longer [0567].

Cancer is usually the major cause of death in mice, although there is considerable variation between strains and the most common type of cancer varies between strains. Even long-lived wild-derived animals, however, die primarily of cancer [0738]. Various degenerative conditions, including in the heart and kidneys as well as cognitive ageing, have been observed in mice [0981]. Dozens of genes have been identified in mice that extend lifespan.

Aging has not been found to affect the number and size of alpha-motor neurons, in both this species and rhesus monkeys. However, these neurons were found to shed synaptic inputs with age, which may cause their disfunction in older animals [1314].

Studies comparing ageing-associated differentially methylated positions (aDMPs) between mouse, dog, naked mole-rat, rhesus monkey, humpback whale and human, have shown that lifespan in these mammalian species is strongly correlated with the rate of change of methylation levels in aDMPs. Additionally, these methylation dynamics are a measure of cellular ageing [1315].

These animals present an inactivation, with age, of the mild depolarization mechanism in the mitochondria, which would prevent the production of ROS when producing ATP. This is unlike their longer living counterparts such as naked mole-rat and bat [1341].

A study comparing mouse and 7 other species concluded that the rate of telomere shortening was a strong predictor of lifespan, unlike telomere length [1356]. However, telomere length shortening has been observed in these animals [1342].

Life history traits (averages)

Female sexual maturity
42 days
Male sexual maturity
42 days
Gestation
19 days
Weaning
Litter size
7 (viviparous)
Litters per year
5.4
Inter-litter interval
30 days
Weight at birth
1.25 g
Weight at weaning
Adult weight
20.5 g
Postnatal growth rate
0.0298 days-1 (from Gompertz function)
Maximum longevity residual
51%

Metabolism

Typical body temperature
310ºK or 36.9ºC or 98.4ºF
Basal metabolic rate
0.2710 W
Body mass
18.0 g
Metabolic rate per body mass
0.015056 W/g

Species in other databases

GenAge
Genes have been associated with ageing in this organism
GenDR

References

External Resources

Integrated Taxonomic Information System
ITIS 180366
Animal Diversity Web
ADW account (if available)
Encyclopaedia of Life
Search EOL
NCBI Taxonomy
Taxonomy ID 10090
Entrez
Search all databases
Ageing Literature
Search Google Scholar or Search PubMed
Images
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Internet
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