ABSTRACT
The flaky tail mutation arose spontaneously among the progeny of crosses between heterogeneous stocks at the Jackson Laboratory in 1958. When backcrossed onto the C57BL/6J strain, the offspring also developed tail constrictions and flaky tail skin, thus giving it the name flaky tail. The only histologic change reported in the skin of the ear, tail, and dorsal trunk in flaky tail mutant mice is a reduction of the thickness of the stratum granulosum in mutant mice compared to that of littermate control mice at ages 1, 2, 4, and 8 days. The flaky tail mutation is maintained at the Jackson Laboratory on a background that also has the matted mutation. Flaky tail mouse mutation has some superficial gross similarities to mild forms of collodion fetus. The double mutant is also maintained in a small research colony. DNA extracts are available from the Mouse DNA Resource at the Jackson Laboratory.
