A high-throughput, fully automated morphometric method to discover the genes controlling shape differences in the Faroese mice

The Faroe Islands are a group of islands in the North Atlantic that are known for its natural beauty, Viking culture and a special population of house mouse. The Faroese house mouse from the most remote island of the Faroese, Mykines (population: 10 people), looked so distinct when it was discovered that it was declared a subspecies, Mus musculus faeroenesis. These mice are large-bodied and showed an extreme form of left-right asymmetry in its skull. Our research group has brought back these mice and made a large (>800) genetic cross to perform genetic mapping, with the goal to find the genes that control the remarkable shape of these Faroese house mouse. Using whole-body microCT scans, we have obtained high-resolution data for the skeletons of around than 700 mice. This is a far larger dataset than most microCT datasets in image analysis. In order to analyze this data efficiently, we have developed a fully automated pipeline in collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific/FEI.