Depilated (dep), a Mutant Gene That Affects the Coat of the Mouse and Acts in the Epidermis

Depilated is a recessive mutation on Chromosome 4 in the position b^-1.93±0.51^- dep^-3.45±0.68.^-Pt. It causes severe abnormalities of hair structure. The site of action of dep was investigated by the method of dermal-epidermal recombination. Skins from 14-day mutant and normal mouse embryos were separated into dermal and epidermal components, recombined, and grown in histocompatible mouse testes for 20 days. The recombinations made were +/+ epidermis with +/+ dermis, +/+ epidermis with dep/dep dermis, dep/dep epidermis with +/+ dermis and dep/dep epidermis with dep/dep dermis. Grafts that contained mutant epidermis as one of the components produced hairs that were similar to those found in depilated mice. There was no observable effect of the dermis on hair types produced in this experiment.