Nucleic Acids Research, 1990, Vol. 18, No. 24 7293-7298
© 1990
Articles |
Conserved cysteine to serine mutation in tyrosinase is responsible for the classical albino mutation in laboratory mice

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Cell Biology and Institute for Molecular Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine Houston, TX 77030 1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine Indianapolis, IN 46223, USA 2Biological Institute, Tohoku University Sendai 980, Japan
*To whom correspondence should be addressed
Received September 25, 1990. Revised November 13, 1990. Accepted November 13, 1990.
Albinism, due to a lack of melanin pigment, is one of the oldest known mutations in mice. Tyrosinase (monophenol oxygenase, EC 1.14.18.1 [EC] ) is the first enzyme in the pathway for melanin synthesis, and the gene encoding this enzyme has been mapped to the mouse albino (c) locus. We have used mouse tyrosinase cDNA clones and genomic sequencing to study the albino mutation in laboratory mice. Within the tyrosinase gene coding sequences, a G to C transversion at nucleotide 308, causing a cysteine to serine mutation at amino acid 103, is sufficient to abrogate pigment production in transgenic mice. This same base pair change is fully conserved in classical albino strains of laboratory mice. These results indicate that a conserved mutation in the tyrosinase coding sequences is responsible for the classical albino mutation in laboratory mice, and also that most albino laboratory mouse strains have been derived from a common ancestor.
Present address: University of Montreal, Faculty of Veterinaiy Medicine, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec J25 7C6, Canada
![]()
CiteULike
Connotea
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
D. L. Nehrenberg, S. Wang, R. M. Hannon, T. Garland Jr, and D. Pomp QTL Underlying Voluntary Exercise in Mice: Interactions with the "Mini Muscle" Locus and Sex J. Hered., August 10, 2009; (2009) esp066v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B. Lu, C. Poirier, T. Gaspar, C. Gratzke, W. Harrison, D. Busija, M. M. Matzuk, K.-E. Andersson, P. A. Overbeek, and C. E. Bishop A Mutation in the Inner Mitochondrial Membrane Peptidase 2-Like Gene (Immp2l) Affects Mitochondrial Function and Impairs Fertility in Mice Biol Reprod, April 1, 2008; 78(4): 601 - 610. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. M. Schmutz and T. G. Berryere The Genetics of Cream Coat Color in Dogs J. Hered., August 3, 2007; (2007) esm018v3. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J Gratten, D Beraldi, B.V Lowder, A.F McRae, P.M Visscher, J.M Pemberton, and J Slate Compelling evidence that a single nucleotide substitution in TYRP1 is responsible for coat-colour polymorphism in a free-living population of Soay sheep Proc R Soc B, March 7, 2007; 274(1610): 619 - 626. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. C. L. Cervino, A. Darvasi, M. Fallahi, C. C. Mader, and N. F. Tsinoremas An Integrated in Silico Gene Mapping Strategy in Inbred Mice Genetics, January 1, 2007; 175(1): 321 - 333. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Poirier, Y. Qin, C. P. Adams, Y. Anaya, J. B. Singer, A. E. Hill, E. S. Lander, J. H. Nadeau, and C. E. Bishop A Complex Interaction of Imprinted and Maternal-Effect Genes Modifies Sex Determination in Odd Sex (Ods) Mice Genetics, November 1, 2004; 168(3): 1557 - 1562. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
T. Yang, D. Liang, P. J. Koch, D. Hohl, F. Kheradmand, and P. A. Overbeek Epidermal detachment, desmosomal dissociation, and destabilization of corneodesmosin in Spink5-/- mice Genes & Dev., October 1, 2004; 18(19): 2354 - 2358. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. van der Weyden, D. J. Adams, and A. Bradley Tools for targeted manipulation of the mouse genome Physiol Genomics, December 3, 2002; 11(3): 133 - 164. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. J. Miltenberger, K. Wakamatsu, S. Ito, R. P. Woychik, L. B. Russell, and E. J. Michaud Molecular and Phenotypic Analysis of 25 Recessive, Homozygous-Viable Alleles at the Mouse agouti Locus Genetics, February 1, 2002; 160(2): 659 - 674. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. A. Cronin, W. Gluba, and H. Scrable The lac operator-repressor system is functional in the mouse Genes & Dev., June 15, 2001; 15(12): 1506 - 1517. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B. Zheng, M. Sage, E. A. Sheppeard, V. Jurecic, and A. Bradley Engineering Mouse Chromosomes with Cre-loxP: Range, Efficiency, and Somatic Applications Mol. Cell. Biol., January 15, 2000; 20(2): 648 - 655. [Abstract] [Full Text] |
||||
![]() |
M. Wu, E. M. Rinchik, E. Wilkinson, and D. K. Johnson Inherited somatic mosaicism caused by an intracisternal A particle insertion in the mouse tyrosinase gene PNAS, February 4, 1997; 94(3): 890 - 894. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
P. Gage, M. Roller, T. Saunders, L. Scarlett, and S. Camper Anterior pituitary cells defective in the cell-autonomous factor, df, undergo cell lineage specification but not expansion Development, January 1, 1996; 122(1): 151 - 160. [Abstract] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. Porter and C. Meyer A distal tyrosinase upstream element stimulates gene expression in neural-crest-derived melanocytes of transgenic mice: position-independent and mosaic expression Development, January 8, 1994; 120(8): 2103 - 2111. [Abstract] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
T Yokoyama, N. Copeland, N. Jenkins, C. Montgomery, F. Elder, and P. Overbeek Reversal of left-right asymmetry: a situs inversus mutation Science, April 30, 1993; 260(5108): 679 - 682. [Abstract] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. Montoliu, A. Schedl, G. Kelsey, P. Lichter, Z. Larin, H. Lehrach, and G. Schutz Generation of Transgenic Mice with Yeast Artificial Chromosomes Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol, January 1, 1993; 58(0): 55 - 62. [Abstract] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J Rossant and N Hopkins Of fin and fur: mutational analysis of vertebrate embryonic development. Genes & Dev., January 1, 1992; 6(1): 1 - 13. [PDF] |
||||










