Prenatal and Postnatal Maternal Effects on Body Weight in Cross-fostering Experiment on Two Subspecies of Mice

摘要

A cross-fostering experiment was conducted on two quite distinct subspecies of mice, domesticated laboratory mouse of CF_#1 (Mus musculus domesticus) and Yonakuni wild mouse (Yk, Mus musculus molossinus yonakuni), to estimate the prenatal and postnatal maternal effects on body weight of offspring. Mating was done between subspecies, two or three females being mated to a male at nine-ten weeks of age. Two dams of different subspecies that littered at the same day were used as a group of foster dams.