Mallory A. Ballinger

This study identifies QTL driving skeletal divergence in temperate and tropical house mice, revealing both small-effect and pleiotropic loci involved in adaptive evolution.

Serial transfer of low-activity mice gut microbiomes to germ-free mice reduced locomotor activity, showing microbiome transmission can influence host traits independently of genetic changes.

The paper introduces 11 wild-derived inbred mouse strains with expanded genomic and phenotypic diversity, enhancing the scope of biomedical research.