The Journal of Heredity 1998:89(1)
© 1998 The American Genetic Association 89:24-31
Hereditary multiple malformation in Japanese quail: a possible powerful animal model for morphogenetic studies
Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Faculty of Applied Biological Science, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima 739, Japan 2Department of Laboratory Animal Science, College of Agriculture, Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai, Osaka, Japan *Corresponding author
Hereditary multiple malformation (HMM), a new mutation of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica), is controlled by an autosomal recessive gene. The proposed gene symbol for the mutant gene is hmm. The majority of the homozygotes die at the sixth day of incubation, and the remainder die at various stages by 15 days of incubation. The homozygotes surviving to the late embryonic stage have greatly shortened lower and upper breaks that are set apart and show an early embryo-like body shape, with feather buds but no plumules. Furthermore, they show syndactylous polydactyly in both fore and hind limbs. In the abdomen of the homozygote, a part of the ventriculus, liver, and small intestine protrudes out of the umbilicus region. In the skeleton of the late HMM embryos, ossification is generally delayed and morphogenetic abnormalities are observed all over the body. This mutant seems to become a powerful animal model in the research fields for morphogenesis.