Interlaboratory study to validate a STR profiling method for intraspecies identification of mouse cell lines. Mus musculus

The Consortium for Mouse Cell Line Authentication was formed to validate Short Tandem Repeat (STR) markers for intraspecies identification of mouse cell lines. The STR profiling method is a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay comprised of primers targeting 18 mouse STR markers and two human STR markers (for interspecies contamination screening). The goals of the Consortium were to perform an interlaboratory study to – (1) validate the mouse STR markers to uniquely identify mouse cell lines (intraspecies identification), (2) to provide a public database of mouse cell lines with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-validated mouse STR profiles, and (3) to publish the results of the interlaboratory study. The study was based on 50 of the most commonly used mouse cell lines obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC). Of the 50 cell lines, all but 8 cell lines are deposited in the NCBI BioSample database. The remaining 8 cell lines need additional studies to determine their authenticity. Overall, the interlaboratory study showed that the multiplex PCR method using 18 mouse STR markers is capable of discriminating at the intraspecies-level among mouse cell lines.Disclaimer:The published NIST-verified STR profiles for mouse cell lines, obtained from ATCC, were used for identity testing in a validation study. These cell lines do not appear to have contamination of human origin based on the lack of amplification of human STR markers present in the assay.