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Standard Mouse Strain Abbreviations for use in Congenic Nomenclature

There are standard abbreviations for donor and primary background of a congenic strain.
Examples of common strain abbreviations include:

Abbreviation Strain
129P1129P1/ReJ
129P2129P2/OlaHsd
129P3129P3/J
129S1129S1/SvImJ
129S1129S1/Sv-Oca2+ Tyr+ KitlSl-J
129S2129S2/SvPas
129S4129S4/SvJae
129S5129S5/SvEvBrd
129S6129S6/SvEvTac
129S7129S7/SvEvBrd-Hprtb-m2
129S8129S8/SvEv-Gpi1c Hprtb-m2/J
129S9129S9/SvEvH
129T1129T1/Sv-Oca2+ Tyrc-ch Dnd1Ter/+
129T2129T2/SvEms
129T2129T2/SvEmsJ
129X1129X1/SvJ
AA/J and other A substrains (except A/He)
AHeA/He
AKAKR substrains
BC57BL unidentified substrains
B6J, B6NC57BL/6J *used when distinguishing between other B6 substrains, C57BL/6N
B6EiC57BL/6Ei
B6C57BL6/J and unidentified C57BL/6 substrains
B10C57BL/10 substrains
BKSWBlack Swiss
BKSC57BLKS/J
BRC57BR/cd
Cmost BALB/c substrains
CBy, CWtBALB/cBy, BALB/cWt
C3Fe, C3PasC3HeB/Fe, C3H/HePas
C3HC3H/HeH
C3NC3H/HeN
C3SnC3H/HeSn
C3use for C3H substrains without confirmed labcodes
CBACBA substrains
CBACaCBA/Ca substrains
Cguse with multiple alleles of different strain origins or where the strain of origin is unknown1
D1DBA/1
D2DBA/2
FVBFVB/N
HRHRS/J
LC57L
PLPL
R3RIIIS
SJLSJL
SwSWR

Note: Cg is a special abbreviation indicating that the donor was not inbred or is of complex origin. This includes cases where 2 congenic strains with different strains of origin are crossed (see example 12 below). We also use .Cg if the strain of origin is unknown. For 129 substrains not mentioned above follow the same pattern of 129letter#.

Note: **When clearly documented, specific substrain designator(s) can be used for C57BL/6 substrains (e.g. B6J for C57BL/6J, B6JBomTac for C57BL/6JBomTac, B6N for C57BL/6N, B6Dnk for C57BL/6Dnk, etc.). Only use B6J in congenic nomenclature when distinguishing between B6 substrains (i.e. B6J.B6N-Gene<allele>). All B6 substrains are derived from C57BL/6J. Therefore B6 represents both C57BL/6J and unspecified C57BL/6.

Note: Generally for mice backcrossed to an outbred stock do not use congenic or coisogenic nomenclature. Common outbred strains include: CD-1, CF-1, ICR, NMRI, Swiss Webster, TO, etc. Exception: A number of strains (NIH Swiss, Black Swiss ICR etc) are both sold as outbred but have inbred lines derived from these strains in use in some labs. Unless the paper states that these lines are inbred, assume they are outbred.

Note: Specific substrain designators of a common strain can be used when the host/donor relationship is clearly different and contributes to understanding the strain. For example, if a spontaneous mutation is discovered in the research strain BALB/cBy and then backcrossed onto substrain BALB/cByJ the host/donor relationship of the strain is best represented as CBy.CByJ-mutation.


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last database update
12/03/2024
MGI 6.24
The Jackson Laboratory