Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T14:21:08.683Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effects of alleles at the agouti locus on minor skeletal variants in C57BL/6 house mice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

Larry Leamy
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, California State University, Long Beach, California 90840
David Bradley
Affiliation:
Academic Computing Services, California State University, Long Beach, California 90840
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In this study, five separate alleles at the agouti locus in house mice were tested for potential effects on a battery of 13 minor skeletal variants. Six genotypes (aa, ata, atat, Aa, Avya, and Aya) were compared on a standard congenic background (C57BL/6). In log-linear analyses, three of the 13 characters showed significant genotype differences (another three were close to significance), and genotypes also exhibited overall significance in a multivariate randomization test. Both multidimensional scaling and clustering showed an association of aa with ata, Aa with Avya and Aya, and a general separation of atat from the other genotypes. Genotype differences averaged 0·63 in probit standard deviations, 0·09 when assessed by the mean measure of divergence. Since the general magnitude of effects of these major genes was quite similar to those previously estimated for presumptive polygenes from subline divergence studies, it was concluded that major genes may often act as polygenes and make important contributions to the variation in minor skeletal variants.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

References

Carpenter, J. R., Grüneberg, H. & Russell, E. S. (1957). Genetical differentiation involving morphological characters in an inbred strain of mice. II. American branches of the C57BL and C57BR strains. Journal of Morphology 100, 377388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheverud, J. M. & Buikstra, J. E. (1981). Quantitative genetics of skeletal non-metric traits in the rhesus macaques on Cayo Santiago. I. Single trait heritabilities. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 54, 4349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deol, M. S., Grüneberg, H., Searle, A. G. & Truslove, G. M. (1957). Genetical differentiation involving morphological characters in an inbred strain of mice. I. A British branch of the C57BL strain. Journal of Morphology 100, 345376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, W. J. (1983). BMDP Statistical Software. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Edgington, E. S. (1980). Randomization Tests. New York: Marcel Dekker.Google Scholar
Green, E. L. (editor) (1966). Biology of the Laboratory Mouse. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Grewal, M. S. (1962). The rate of genetic divergence of sublines in the C57BL strain of mice. Genetical Research 3, 226237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grüneberg, H. (1955). Genetical studies on the skeleton of the mouse. XV. Relations between major and minor variants. Journal of Genetics 53, 515535.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grüneberg, H. (1963). The Pathology of Development. A Study of Inherited Skeletal Disorders in Animals. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Hoi-Sen, Y. (1972). Is subline differentiation a continuing process in inbred strains of mice? Genetical Research 19, 5359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kruskal, J. B. (1964). Nonmetric muldimensional scaling: a numerical method. Psychometrika 29, 115129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leamy, L. (1981). Effects of alleles at the albino locus on odontometric traits in the 129/J strain of house mice. Journal of Heredity 72, 199204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leamy, L. J. & Hrubant, H. E. (1971). Effects of alleles at the agouti locus on odontometric traits in the C57BL/6 strain of house mice. Genetics 67, 8796.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leamy, L. & Sustarsic, S. S. (1978). A morphometric discriminant analysis of agouti genotypes in C57BL/6 house mice. Systematic Zoology 27, 4960.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luther, P. G. (1949). Enzymatic maceration of skeletons. Proceedings of the Linnean Society 161, 146147.Google Scholar
Rao, C. R. (1971). Linear Statistical Inference and its Applications, 2nd. ed. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Schwam, S. S. (1974). The effects of alleles at the agouti locus on osteometric traits in the house mouse. M.A. thesis. California State University, Long Beach.Google Scholar
Searle, A. G. (1968). Comparative Genetics of Coat Colour in Mammals. London: Logos Press.Google Scholar
Self, S. G. & Leamy, L. (1978). Heritability of quasicontinuous skeletal traits in a randombred population of house mice. Genetics 88, 109120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shephard, R. H. (1962 a). The analysis of proximities: multidimensional scaling with an unknown distance function. I. Psychometrika 27, 125140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shephard, R. H. (1962 b). The analysis of proximities: multidimensional scaling with an unknown distance function. II. Psychometrika 27, 219246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silvers, W. K. (1979). The Coat Colors of Mice. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sjovold, T. (1973). The occurrence of minor non-metrical variants in the skeleton and their quantitative treatment for population comparisons. Homo 24, 204233.Google Scholar
Sneath, S. A. & Sokal, R. R. (1973). Numerical Taxonomy. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Sokal, R. R. & Rohlf, F. J. (1981). Biometry. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.Google Scholar