The A^y allele at the agouti locus reduces the size and alters the shape of the mandible in mice

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.)