The rat Downunder (Du) coat color mutation is associated with eye anomalies and embryonic lethality and maps to a 3.9-Mb region on chromosome 3.

ABSTRACT: Rodent coat color genes have been studied as a bioresource to understand developmental and cellular processes. The Downunder rat is a fancy variety with a marking on its belly that runs from the neck to the breech and appears to mirror the dorsal hooded marking. Here, we established a congenic strain carrying the Downunder (Du) gene in an F344 genetic background. In addition to the ventral marking, Du/+ rats exhibit anophthalmia or microphthalmia with incomplete penetrance. Du/Du embryos die in the early stages of organogenesis. Genetic linkage analysis mapped the Du gene to rat chromosome 3 and haplotype mapping with congenic rats localized the Du locus to a 3.9-Mb region. The Du locus includes two functional genes, glycosyltransferase-like domain-containing 1 (Gtdc1) and zinc finger E-bo

SUBMITTER: Hieu HT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9978131 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature