Quantitative genetic analysis of temperature regulation in Mus musculus. II. Diallel analysis of individual traits.

Abstract

Animals representing a complete diallel cross among 4 inbred strains of Mus musculus were measured for 9 traits which potentially contribute to thermoregulation. In general, morphological (body weight) and behavioral (nest size) measures exhibited substantially more additive genetic influences than did physiological (metabolic rate, body temperature, brown adipose tissue weight) measures. Some degree of dominance was evidenced by most traits, usually in the direction of increasing values. Results sometimes differed between the sexes, with males being more subject than females to genotype-environment interactions.-from Authors