Comment la souris est devenue, timidement, une espèce modèle pour la recherche en génétique animale et humaine

How the mouse has become, timidly, a model for animal and human genetic research. From the early twentieth century onwards, the mouse is one the most popular model amongst geneticists. This article dedicates the origins of scientific work on mouse genetics and reports their links with current research in experimental biology. Following the first formal analyses by Lucien Cuénot, William E. Castle, Clarence C. Little, and John B. S. Haldane, geneticists plunged into the production of inbred strains. This history continues today with the development of new resource populations with high levels of genetic diversity : the Collaborative Cross, and the Diversity Outbred. At the same time, Leroy Stevens, Martin Evans, Gail Martin, and Barry Pierce performed a series of crucial experiments on a rare tumour : testicular teratocarcinoma. These tumours became the focus of a great deal of research that continues today through the works aimed at understanding the mechanisms of somatic adult cell reprogramming into pluripotent cells.