Scientists discover mice that sing
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(2 May 2011) SHOTLIST :
AP Television
Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 8 February 8 2011
1. Various of Hidaka Yuko, observing genetically modified mice in a clean room
2. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Hidaka Yuko, Researcher, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences:
"There are a lot of mice in the project. One day when I was lining up their boxes I heard a sound like bird song. Listening closely I realised that it was a mouse that was making the sound. That was the beginning."
3. Various of genetically modified singing mice, singing
4. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Hidaka Yuko, Researcher, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences:
"I was really surprised. I almost didn't believe what I was hearing."
5. Various of normal mice that do not sing (The two mice in the final shot of the sequence make conventional squeaking sounds.)
6. Various close ups of singing mice on top of a container making a sound similar to bird song
7. Set up shots of Project Leader from Osaka University's "Evolved Mouse Project", Uchimura Arikuni
8. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Uchimura Arikuni, Project Leader, Osaka University's "Evolved Mouse Project":
"Essentially what we are aiming to do is witness the evolution of a species within a laboratory. We are trying to develop an experimental model that will enable us to analyse the gradual changes within the mice."
9. Various of Uchimura Arikuni recording and analysing the vocalisations of a singing mouse
10. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Uchimura Arikuni, Project Leader, Osaka University's "Evolved Mouse Project":
"When the mice are together their vocalisations seem to increase. They appear to be singing to each other which suggests that the vocalisations have become part of their social behaviour."
11. Various of male and female singing mice together
12. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Professor Yagi Takashi, Director, Osaka University's Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences:
"It may be a trigger, an origin of a form of communication. This means that we may be in a position in which we will be able to analyse how that form of communication effects social structure, influences society and mental evolution."
13. Various of singing mice
LEAD IN:
People talk, birds sing, mice squeak. It's always been that way.
That was until scientists at the Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences at Osaka University came across an extraordinary colony of mice.
Unlike ordinary mice that traditionally squeak, these genetically engineered mice sing.
STORYLINE:
Hidaka Yuko is a research assistant working on Osaka University's "Evolved Mouse Project."
Mice breed extremely quickly, which is one of the reasons that the species was selected for an investigation into evolution.
One day during a routine observation of the colony, Hidaka heard a sound like bird song.
On closer inspection she realised that the sound was coming from one of the mice.
"I was really surprised. I almost didn't believe what I was hearing," she says.
The "Evolved Mouse Project" is lead by Uchimura Arikuni.
"Essentially what we are aiming to do is witness the evolution of a species within a laboratory. We are trying to develop an experimental model that will enable us to analyse the gradual changes within the mice," he says.
The mice used on the project have been genetically engineered to be prone to transferring errors during DNA replication.
These errors lead to changes in the genome sequence - or mutations.
Over time these mutations change the inherited traits within the inter-breeding population.
In other words, the species evolves.
So the starting point of the "Evolved Mouse Project" project was simply to cross breed the mice over generations and see what happens.
keyword animals wacky
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