Gender- is it really the primay factor of mammalian growth?

The mouse is a primary model that has been used extensively to study the genetics of 
growth, and other cellular functions, in mammals. One of the primary objectives of the genetic analysis of mammal growth is to understand its genetic architecture, that is the number and position of loci affecting the trait, the magnitude of their effects, allele frequencies and types
of gene action. Selection experiments have revealed the existence of strong genetic correlations among traits that were indicative of the complexity of growth regulation at both physiological and genetic levels. Targeted gene deletions (gene knockouts) and transgenics are two methods

of characterizing the function of a gene which follow opposite strategies. Adult mice with two copies of the disrupted gene were 30% larger than control mice and, in addition to their more rapid growth, females had impaired maturation of ovarian follicles. Therefore, the results pertaining to QTL mapping experiments for growth suggest that genetic factors regulating growth can be related to the gender of the mouse. Although this selection experiment produced a large amount of information pertaining to the genetic regulation of growth, the nature of this experiment, based on mass selection schemes, precluded the identification of individual genes.

Written by student 41202414

References:

Susanna Wang; Nadir Yehya; Eric E Schadt; Hui Wang; Thomas A Drake; and Aldons J. Lusis PLoS Genet. 2006, February 2. Genetic and Genomic Analysis of a Fat Mass Trait with Complex Inheritance Reveals Marked Sex Specificity

Pablo M. Corva, Juan F. Medrano- November 28, 2000
Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs) mapping for growth traits in the mouse: A review