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A study of melanin in a truly monohybrid black mouse

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Summary

In the monohybrid black mouse used for this experiment melanin granules are distributed in the hair, the epidermis, the corium, the pia mater, the parathyroid and the pigment layer of the retina, the choroid, the iris and the ciliary body of the eye. Sometimes they are found in the phagocytes of the spleen and the lymph nodes.

The color gene, C, determines the presence of melanin in the tissues mentioned above. In the albino mice of the same inbred strain the absence of the color gene causes the absence of melanin. No other differences between the tissues of the black and albino mice were observed.

The melanin first appears in the optic cup of the embryo when 12 days old. At birth it appears in the hairs; later in the other organs.

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  1. C. T. Li
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This article contains the substance of a thesis which formed a part of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the Graduate Yuan of Natural Sciences in Yenching University, Peiping, China. The work has been done in the Department of Anatomy of the Peiping Union Medical College under a fellowship granted by the same institution.

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Li, C.T. A study of melanin in a truly monohybrid black mouse. Genetica 25, 532–544 (1951). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01784840

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01784840

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