Homozygous patchwork mice have hairs that are either totally white or totally pigmented, but no diluted coloration of the hair.  On a nonagouti background this produces a salt-and-pepper appearance from white hairs juxtaposed with black hairs.  This occurs throughout the coat and does not vary by anatomic region.  The absence of pigment in the white hairs is due to an absence of melanocytes in the hair follicles of the white hairs; functioning melanocytes are present in the hair follicles of the black hairs.  The absence of melanotyes in the follicles of the white hairs results from premature death of melanoblasts during development.  TUNEL staining indicates that this melanoblast death is apoptotic and begins around embryonic day 18.5.  This suggests that patchwork melanoblasts can survive and function if enough survive, but fail to survive when adequately reduced in number.  Analysis of aggregation chimeras between patchwork and albino donors revealed gray hairs at the boundaries between the white and black hairs indicating that the albino melanoblasts could enhance the survival of patchwork melanoblasts.  Thus, the patchwork defect is not strictly melanoblast autonomous.   (Aubin-Houzelstein et al., 1998.)

These mice carry the spontaneous mutation patchwork (<i>pwk</i>) characterized by hairs that are either totally white or totally pigmented due to the presence of or absence of melanotyes in the hair follicles.


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