News Life

A tryst, then the power to resist

Surprising cross-breeding has helped some mice to survive warfarin poisoning

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

Mighty Mouse may have gotten a very important superpower — resistance to widespread rodent poisons — through some mistaken-identity sex.

BORROWER SPECIES One house mouse from Europe looks much like another from the outside, but some can resist a widespread class of rodent poisons thanks to a stretch of DNA inherited from a different species.