Off-campus South Dakota State University users: To download campus access theses, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your South Dakota State University ID and password.

Non-South Dakota State University users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this thesis through interlibrary loan.

Document Type

Thesis - University Access Only

Award Date

1989

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department / School

Biology

First Advisor

Nels Granholm

Abstract

The yellow-albino compound mutant mouse serves as an excellent model for studying gene expression during melanogenesis. These mice are mutant at two loci, the agouti locus (Ay/a) and the albino locus (c2J/c2J). Both of these loci play a role in the process of melanogenesis (formation of pigment). Electron microscopy of the hair bulb (HB) melanocytes, proved to be a productive tool for determining the effects of agouti and albino loci on the differentiation of melanosomes. Results reveal that the agouti locus seems to play a role in not only determining the color of the pigment, but also in dictating the shape of the melanosome. On the other hand, the albino locus is responsible for the presence or absence of pigment; the albino locus may also encode gene products which affect the size of the melanosome. Alleles at the albino locus in mice may represent productive models of human albinism. Knowledge obtained from mouse models may be of value in understanding and eventually diagnosing the different forms of human albinism.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Mice as laboratory animals

Melanocytes

Pigmentation disorders

Melanins - Synthesis

Format

application/pdf

Number of Pages

118

Publisher

South Dakota State University

Download

Share

COinS