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A non-epistatic interaction of agouti and extension in the fox, Vulpes vulpes

Nature Genetics volume 15, pages 311–315 (1997)Cite this article

Abstract

Agouti and extension are two genes that control the production of yellow-red (phaeomelanin) and brown-black (eumelanin) pigments in the mammalian coat1. Extension encodes the melanocyte-stimulating hormone receptor (MC1R)2,3 while agouti encodes a peptide antagonist of the receptor4–6. In the mouse, extension is epistatic to agouti 7,8, hence dominant mutants of the MC1R encoding constitutively active receptors are not inhibited by the agouti antagonist, and animals with dominant alleles of both loci remain darkly pigmented. In the fox the proposed extension locus is not epistatic to the agouti locus9,10. We have cloned and characterized the MC1R and the agouti gene in coat colour variants of the fox (Vulpes vulpes). A constitutively activating C125R mutation in the MC1R was found specifically in darkly pigmented animals carrying the Alaska Silver allele (EA). A deletion in the first coding exon of the agouti gene was found associated with the proposed recessive allele of agouti in the darkly pigmented Standard Silver fox (aa). Thus, as in the mouse, dark pigmentation can be caused by a constitutively active MC1R, or homozygous recessive status at the agouti locus. Our results, demonstrating the presence of dominant extension alleles in foxes with significant red coat colouration, suggest the ability of the fox agouti protein to counteract the signalling activity of a constitutively active fox MC1R.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Science, Agricultural University of Norway, P.O. Box 5025, N-1432, Ås, Norway

    Dag Inge Våge, Helge Klungland & Sigbjørn Lien

  2. Vollum Institute for Advanced Biomedical Research, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Oregon, 97201, USA

    Dongsi Lu & Roger D. Cone

  3. The Nordic Gene Bank for Farm Animals, Agricultural University of Norway, P.O. Box 5025, N-1432, Ås, Norway

    Stefan Adalsteinsson

Authors
  1. Dag Inge Våge
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  2. Dongsi Lu
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  3. Helge Klungland
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  4. Sigbjørn Lien
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  5. Stefan Adalsteinsson
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  6. Roger D. Cone
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Våge, D., Lu, D., Klungland, H. et al. A non-epistatic interaction of agouti and extension in the fox, Vulpes vulpes. Nat Genet 15, 311–315 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng0397-311

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