Strain Detail Sheet

Phenotype:
The agouti yellow gene is homozygous lethal. Therefore nonagouti is also segregating. As is true of all DBA mice, these are also mutant at the dilute (Myo5a) and brown (Tyrp1) loci. For this reason, the homozygous nonagouti littermates are dilute brown in phenotype and the heterozygous mice are dilute yellow in phenotype. The full genotype of yellow mice is DBA/2J-A^y/a, Myo5a^d/Myo5a^d, Tyrp1^b/Tyrp1^b; the control littermates are DBA/2J-a/a, Myo5a^d/Myo5a^d, Tyrp1^b/Tyrp1^b.

Mice heterozygous for the mutant allele have a dilute yellow coat, are obese, but not as obese as C57BL/6J-A^y mice. Yellow is dominant to nonagouti and epistatic to brown. It has not been determined if the yellow mice are prone to diabetes on the DBA background, as are the C57BL/6J-A^y mice.

Strain Type: Congenic Spontaneous Mutation

Founder genetic background: old mutant of the mouse fancy

Strain genetic background: DBA/2J

Strain Development:
This strain was created by backcrossing the spontaneous mutation from C57BL/6J-A^y/a, that was obtained from JAX, onto DBA/2J.

• Pigmentation
• Obesity
• Reproduction

Donor: Dr. M. L. Lamoreux, Texas A&M University

Primary Reference:

Michaud EJ, Bultman SJ, Klebig ML, van Vugt MJ, Stubbs LJ, Russell LB, Woychik RP. A molecular model for the genetic and phenotypic characteristics of the mouse lethal yellow (Ay) mutation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1994 Mar 29;91(7):2562-6. (Medline: 8146154)

Lamoreux ML, Wakamatsu K, Ito S. Interaction of major coat color gene functions in mice as studied by chemical analysis of eumelanin and pheomelanin. Pigment Cell Res. 2001 Feb;14(1):23-31. (Medline: 11277491)

Ollmann MM, Lamoreux ML, Wilson BD, Barsh GS. Interaction of Agouti protein with the melanocortin 1 receptor in vitro and in vivo. Genes Dev. 1998 Feb 1;12(3):316-30. (Medline: 9450927)

Coat color: Dilute yellow

Other:

MMRRC Breeding System: Backcross

Breeding Scheme(s):

• Wildtype Female x Heterozygous Male
• DBA/2J Female x Heterozygous Male
• Heterozygous females are fertile, but resulting pups have a poor survival rate to weaning age. Recommend mating heterozygous males to DBA/2J or wildtype females.

Generation: N10+

Overall Breeding Performance: Poor. It is usually very much easier to obtain viable litters if yellow males are mated with nonyellow females, and if the mice are maintained in more than usually crowded conditions. Trying to mate these as pairs probably would not work. Some of the yellow females never breed. So in rederivation, it will be necessary to provide more than three animals per client.

Do not feed high fat diet due to obesity and diabetic tendencies. Pups are small and should not be weaned until at least 4-5 weeks of age (the donating investigator routinely waits to wean these mice until they are 8-10 weeks of age). Males seem to mature slowly and don't breed well until they are 3 months of age.

* Additional charges may apply for any special requests. Shipping costs are in addition to the basic distribution/resuscitation fees. Information on shipping costs and any additional charges will be provided by the supplying MMRRC facility.

Click button to Request this one strain. (Use the MMRRC Catalog Search to request more than one strain.)
MMRRC Item #	Description	Distribution Fee/unit (US $)	Units
000137-MU-RESUS	Resuscitation from cryopreserved material	$1,963.00	litter a
000137-MU-SPERM	Cryopreserved spermatozoa	$424.00	aliquot b

^a The distribution fee covers the expense of resuscitating mice from the cryo-archive; you will receive the resulting litter. The litter will contain at minimum one breedable mutant carrier; the actual number of animals and the gender and genotype ratios will vary. (Typically, multiple breeder pairs can be established from the recovered litter.) Prior to shipment, the MMRRC repository will provide information about the animals recovered. If you anticipate or find that you need to request specific genotypes, genders or quantities of mice in excess of what is likely from a resuscitated litter, you may discuss available options and pricing with the supplying MMRRC repository.

^b An aliquot contains sufficient material (volume and concentration) for at least two IVF or several artificial inseminations (based on our procedures). The MMRRC makes no guarantee concerning success of these procedures when performed outside the MMRRC facilities.