# Black tans & autism research



## madmouse (May 19, 2012)

At www.jax.org they list a^t as a gene used for research into autism. The mice on Jax's site lack all or part of the corpus callosum (a sort connection between the brain hemispheres. Kim Peek, the real-life inspiration for Rain Man was missing the corpus callosum). Does anyone know if tan is naturally associated with brain abnormalities or if its merely coincidence that Jax's autism model is black tan. Possibly Jax's site answers my question, but their technical description may be a bit beyond my scientific reading comprehension. I'm wondering bc I have a couple of tans descended from poor pet shop stock who exhibit odd antisocial and compulsive anxiety-reducing behaviors. Is there a real connection or just coincidence? Obviously not all tans have behavioral problems, but then not all brindles are obese like those used for diabetes research. Does anyone know where I can learn more about mice used for autism research?


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

Can you post a link to the page about tans, I can't search the site on my tablet for some reason, the button doesn't do anything.

I have noticed that my foxes are well let's just say not as bright as the Siamese. They seem to notice things slower like if I take off a bottle and leave a hole in the mesh the Siamese will be straight there thinking about doing a runner where as I can leave to refill the bottle and normally the foxes won't have noticed the hole.


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## madmouse (May 19, 2012)

Here's the page: http://jaxmice.jax.org/strain/002282.html

It's funny you should mention how your Siamese will run through a hole quicker than your foxes: "low exploratory behavior" is one of the autistic traits listed for this strain.


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

Looking at that page it's not a simple tan mouse, as tufted marker was added to it and also has wild type T+ too. Don't know about those genes but assume there only about in labs rather than the fancy.


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