Interfrontal Bone Among Inbred Strains of Mice and QTL Mapping

The interfrontal bone (IF) is a minor skeletal trait residing between the frontal bones. IF is considered a quasi-continuous trait. Genetic and environmental factors appear to play roles in its development. The mechanism(s) underlying IF bone development are poorly understood. We sought to survey inbred strains of mice for the prevalence of IF and to perform QTL mapping studies. Archived mouse skulls from a mouse phenome project (MPP) were available for this study. 27 inbred strains were investigated with 6–20 mice examined for each strain. Skulls were viewed dorsally and the IF measured using a zoom stereomicroscope equipped with a calibrated reticle. A two generation cross between C3H/HeJ and C57BL/6J mice was performed to generate a panel of 468 F2 mice. F2 mice were phenotyped for presence or absence of IF bone and among mice with the IF bone maximum widths and lengths were measured. F2 mice were genotyped for 573 SNP markers informative between the two strains and subjected to linkage map construction and interval QTL mapping. Results: Strain dependent differences in the prevalence of IF bones were observed. Overall, 77.8% or 21/27, of the inbred strains examined had IF bones. Six strains (C3H/HeJ, MOLF/EiJ, NZW/LacJ, SPRET/EiJ, SWR/J, and WSB/EiJ) lack IF bones. Among the strains with IF bones, the prevalence ranged from 100% for C57BL/6J, C57/LJ, CBA/J, and NZB/B1NJ and down to 5% for strains such as CAST/Ei. QTL mapping for IF bone length and widths identifies for each trait one strong QTL detected on chromosome 14 along with several other significant QTLs on chromosomes 3, 4, 7, and 11. Strain dependent differences in IF will facilitate investigation of genetic factors contributing to IF development. IF bone formation may be a model to understand intrasutural bone formation.