Skip Navigation


Journal of Heredity Advance Access originally published online on August 31, 2005
Journal of Heredity 2005 96(5):607-613; doi:10.1093/jhered/esi096
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
96/5/607    most recent
esi096v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hosoda, T.
Right arrow Articles by Suzuki, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hosoda, T.
Right arrow Articles by Suzuki, H.
Social Bookmarking
 Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The American Genetic Association. 2005. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org.

Brief Communication

Independent Nonframeshift Deletions in the MC1R Gene Are Not Associated with Melanistic Coat Coloration in Three Mustelid Lineages

T. Hosoda, J. J. Sato, T. Shimada, K. L. Campbell, and H. Suzuki

From Taikyu High School, 1985 Yuasa-cho, Arida-gun, Wakayama 643-0004, Japan (Hosoda); Laboratory of Animal Cell Technology, Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Fukuyama University, Higashimura-cho, Aza, Sanzo, 985 Fukuyama, 729-0292, Japan (Sato); Division of Bioscience, Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan (Shimada and Suzuki); and Department of Zoology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 2N2 (Campbell)

Address correspondence to Dr. Hitoshi Suzuki at the address above, or e-mail: htsuzuki{at}ees.hokudai.ac.jp.

Sequence variation within the 5' flanking (about 240 bp) and exon regions (426 bp) of the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene was examined to determine the potential role of this protein in the melanistic coat coloration of 17 mustelid species in four genera: Gulo (wolverines), Martes (martens), Mustela (weasels), and Meles (badgers). Members of the genera Mustela and Meles, together with Martes flavigula and Martes pennanti, were shown to have intact gene sequences. However, several "in frame" deletions of the MC1R gene region implicated in melanism of other species were detected within members of the genera Martes and Gulo. For instance, Gulo gulo possessed a 15 bp deletion in the second transmembrane domain coding region, while Martes americana, Martes melampus, Martes zibellina, and Martes martes shared a 45 bp deletion overlapping this area. In addition, Martes foina was found to possess a 10 bp insertion followed closely by a 28 bp deletion immediately downstream of the deletion found in other martens. Notably, none of these indels was associated with a melanistic phenotype. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that each of these nonrandomly distributed deletions arose independently during the evolution of this family. Specific indel-neighboring motifs appear to largely account for the biased and repeated occurrence of deletion events in the Martes/Gulo clade.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
J HeredHome page
G. Wlasiuk and M. W. Nachman
The Genetics of Adaptive Coat Color in Gophers: Coding Variation at Mc1r Is Not Responsible for Dorsal Color Differences
J. Hered., September 1, 2007; 98(6): 567 - 574.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]



Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.