The Ay allele at the agouti locus reduces the size and alters the shape of the mandible in mice (original) (raw)

Abstract

To confirm my previous findings that the A y allele at the agouti locus reduced the mandible size and therefore altered the mandible shape in a KK mouse strain background, I further investigated the effects of the A y allele on mandible morphology on different strain backgrounds, DDD and B6. Principal component analysis revealed that the mandible was significantly smaller in A y mice (DDD-A y and B6-A y) than in corresponding non-A y mice (DDD and B6, respectively). Discriminant and canonical discriminant analyses revealed that most mice were classified correctly in their own strains, and misclassification was not observed between DDD (-A y) and B6 (-A y). The results confirmed that the A y allele reduced the mandible size and altered the mandible shape regardless of the strain background. However, the difference in mandible morphology between A y mice and the corresponding non-A y mice within a strain was not as large as that which intrinsically underlay the two strains. Possible mechanisms of the A y action are discussed.

(Edited by Akira IRITANI, M.J.A.)