title: Influence of maternal phenotype on metabolic differentiation of agouti locus mutants in the mouse.
abstract: The results of extensive breeding experiments indicate that the phenotypic differentiation of embryos carrying the viable yellow, A( vy), or mottled, a(m), mutations is influenced to a major extent by the agouti locus genotype and the strain genome of the dam. The A(vy)/a and a(m)/a genotypes are each expressed in a spectrum of coat color phenotypes. These can be grouped into two classes, mottled and pseudoagouti.-In a reciprocal cross of C57BL/6JNIcrWf and AM/Wf-a(m)/a(m) mice, 29.5% of the offspring of C57BL/6 dams were of the pseudoagouti phenotype, whereas no pseudoagouti offspring were produced by AM strain dams.-Mottled yellow A(vy)/a mice become obese and tumor formation is enhanced in these mice in comparison with the lean pseudoagouti A(vy)/a siblings.-In two different reciprocal crosses using four different inbred strains, the proportion of pseudoagouti A(vy)/a offspring differed according to the strain of the dam. Regardless of strain, mottled yellow A( vy)/a dams produced significantly fewer pseudoagouti A( vy)/a offspring than did black a/a dams.-The data suggest that metabolic differentiation of A(vy)/a zygotes into phenotypic classes with different susceptibilities to obesity and tumor formation is influenced to a considerable degree by the metabolic characteristics of the oviductal and uterine environment of the dam.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D005111:Extrachromosomal Inheritance; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000166:cytology; D008297:Male; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D010858:Pigmentation; D010860:Pigments, Biological / Q000235:genetics*; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D010860:Pigments, Biological