Into the blue: the importance of murine lacZ gene expression profiling in understanding and treating human disease

The International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC) is a major international effort to explore the effects of knocking out 20,000 genes in the mouse. A new study by White and colleagues, published in the current issue of Disease Models & Mechanisms, demonstrates the usefulness of lacZ in situ reporter expression patterns in extending our understanding of genotype-phenotype relationships as part of the IMPC high-throughput screen. In situ gene expression profiling is invaluable for evaluating compartment-specific gene expression patterns, and these enrich our understanding of the role of genes in a great number of biological processes in multiple organ systems. Furthermore, the complexity of gene expression patterns informs our understanding of how genes influence lethality. This Editorial aims to highlight ways in which the lacZ expression profiles can impact on biomedical research by uncovering as-yet-unknown genotype-phenotype relationships, and through predicting the role of genes in health and disease.