Table 2

Lumbar vertebral number from newborn mice

Genotype

Mstn

+/+

+/+

+/+

+/-

+/-

+/-

-/-

-/-

-/-

Gdf11

+/+

+/-

-/-

+/+

+/-

-/-

+/+

+/-

-/-

Total number of lumbar vertebrae

Number of animals

5

3

-

-

3

-

-

-

-

5+6

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

6

6

10

-

7

10

-

10

9

6+7

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

7

-

-

1

-

-

1

-

1

7+8

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

8

-

-

5

-

-

5

-

-

8+9

-

-

2

-

-

-

-

-

9

-

-

1

-

-

3

-

-

9+10

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

Numbers of mice displaying a given number of vertebrae are shown. Some mice have left-right asymmetry of the most posterior lumbar vertebra with a lumbar phenotype on one side and a sacral phenotype the other. These are designated by a + sign between 2 numbers indicating the number of vertebrae possessing a lumbar appearance for each side. Asymmetric vertebrae with a thoracic and lumbar phenotype were counted as thoracic (Table 1). Number of lumbar vertebrae could not be determined for Mstn^-/- Gdf11^-/- mice.

McPherron et al. BMC Developmental Biology 2009 9:24   doi:10.1186/1471-213X-9-24