The LAG-R framework (Laboratory Animal Genetic Reporting) is a set of guidelines to support more complete documentation of the genetic make-up of animals of all species that are used in research, with the aim of bolstering reproducibility, reliability, and overall scientific rigour.
The biomedical research community is addressing many different factors that lead to problems with reproducibility, including via the implementation of the PREPARE guidelines, which aim to improve experimental design, and the ARRIVE guidelines, which aim to improve reporting of animal research experiments. However, a need remains for a more comprehensive description of the genetics of research animals, as differences in genetic background that are too often perceived as subtle can have a significant impact on phenotype and genetic modifications are rarely fully documented.
The LAG-R (Laboratory Animal Genetic Reporting) guidelines, published in Nature Communications are designed to improve the documentation that is associated with animal research and to be applicable to the full range of animal species used. Standardising and improving genetic documentation will enhance research reliability and reduce wastage of resources and animals by cutting down on the reconstitution of missing information or on follow-up experiments that unknowingly use animals with different genetics.
The LAG-R guidelines have been developed by an international team that includes authors from 15 countries, working within a number of international consortia, including the Asian Mouse Mutagenesis Resource Association, the International Mammalian Genome Society, the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium, the European Research Infrastructure for Modelling Human Diseases (INFRAFRONTIER), the International Society for Transgenic Technologies, the Mutant Mouse Resource & Research Centres, and Phenomics Australia.
The LAG-R guidelines list six fields to describe the genetic background of animals used in experiments including one for the description of its validation. The guidelines also recommend eleven fields to document genetic alterations, how they were generated and how to access materials, and 4 fields to document allele validation. This represents a simple framework that ensures traceability of animal experiments.
