Genetics, Vol. 177, 1151-1161, October 2007, Copyright © 2007
doi:10.1534/genetics.107.079715

tint Maps to Mouse Chromosome 6 and May Interact With a Notochordal Enhancer of Brachyury

Jiang I. Wu*,1, M. A. Centilli*, Gabriela Vasquez*, Susan Young*,2, Jonathan Scolnick*,3, Larissa A. Durfee*, Jimmy L. Spearow{dagger}, Staci D. Schwantz*,4, Gabriela Rennebeck*,5 and Karen Artzt*,6

* Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Section of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712-1064 and {dagger} Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, University of California, Davis, California 95616

6 Corresponding author: Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas, 1 University Station, A4800, Austin, TX 78712-1064.
E-mail: artzt{at}uts.cc.utexas.edu

At the proximal part of mouse chromosome 17 there are three well-defined genes affecting the axis of the embryo and consequently tail length: Brachyury, Brachyury the second, and the t-complex tail interaction (T1, T2, and tct). The existence of T1 and tct in fact defines the classical "t-complex" that occupies ~40 cM of mouse chromosome 17. Their relationship to each other and various unlinked interacting genes has been enigmatic. The tint gene was the first of the latter to be identified. We report here its genetic mapping using a microsatellite scan together with outcrosses to Mus spretus and M. castaneous followed by a subsequent testcross to T, T1, and T2 mutants. Surprisingly, tint interacts with T2 but not with T1. The implications of our data suggest that T2 may be part of the T1 regulatory region through direct or indirect participation of tint.