POMC mutations can cause obesity, adrenal insuffiThe hypothalamus plays a key role in the regulation ciency, and alterations in hair pigmentation in mice (Yasof food intake and energy expenditure, demonstrated wen et al., 1999) and humans (Krude et al., 1998) and through the effects that discrete lesions within this reseveral reports that MC4-R mutations are associated gion of the brain have on...

Scientists have long known that variation in animal color patterns carry far more than cosmetic signifi cance. Darwin fi rst connected pigmentation with adaptive advantage, noting that male fi nches with bright red plumage enjoyed greater reproductive success than their drab competitors. Explaining why coloration confers such advantages, however, has proved somewhat easier than showing how it a...

Abeyewickreme A, Kwok A, McEwan JR, Jayasinghe SN. Bio-electrospraying embryonic stem cells: interrogating cellular viability and pluripotency. Integr Biol 2009;1:260–6. Abeyewickreme A, Thrasher AJ, Kinnon C. Bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP4) up regulates key haematopoietic genes in differentiating embryonic stem cells treated with BMP4 short hairpin RNA. Br J Haematol 2011;155:638–41. Acost...

To compare the importance of cognitive factors relative to physiological factors for estimating food consumption and satiety, we served 64 participants lunch in a “dark” restaurant where they ate a regular two-course meal in complete darkness. Half the participants unknowingly received considerably larger portion sizes which subsequently led to higher food intake. Despite this difference, parti...

“Molecular Medicine in Genetically Engineered Animals” Series Editor, Kenneth R. Chien January 1 Gene modification via “plug and socket” gene targeting................................. Jada Lewis, Baoli Yang, Biological insights through genomics: mouse to man ..................................... Pete Detloff, and Oliver Smithies January 15 Biological insights through genomics: mouse to man ......

Scientists have long known that variation in animal color patterns carry far more than cosmetic signifi cance. Darwin fi rst connected pigmentation with adaptive advantage, noting that male fi nches with bright red plumage enjoyed greater reproductive success than their drab competitors. Explaining why coloration confers such advantages, however, has proved somewhat easier than showing how it a...

Vertebrate melanocytes are derived from the neural crest (NC), a population of embryonic precursor cells that arises along the dorsal neural tube then disperses throughout the embryo. In addition to melanocytes, NC cells also contribute to the peripheral nervous system, craniofacial skeleton, heart, endocrine glands, and other tissues and organs (Le Douarin, 1982; Hall and Hörstadius, 1988; Eri...

Scientists have long known that variation in animal color patterns carry far more than cosmetic signifi cance. Darwin fi rst connected pigmentation with adaptive advantage, noting that male fi nches with bright red plumage enjoyed greater reproductive success than their drab competitors. Explaining why coloration confers such advantages, however, has proved somewhat easier than showing how it a...

The interaction between two genes, Agouti and Melanocortin-1 receptor (Mc1r), produces diverse pigment patterns in mammals by regulating the type, amount, and distribution pattern of the two pigment types found in mammalian hair: eumelanin (brown/black) and pheomelanin (yellow/red). In domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), there is a tremendous variation in coat color patterns between and within br...

Body weight and fat storage are strongly influenced by an individual’s genetic makeup. In humans, genetic polymorphisms have been identified that have effects on body mass index (BMI) and fat content (Meyre et al., 2009; Speliotes et al., 2010; Choquet and Meyre, 2011a), and studies of monogenic rodent models of obesity have defined a variety of genes and signaling pathways that control fat sto...