Morphological and Reproductive Characteristics of Musk Shrews (<I>Suncus murinus</I>) Collected in Bangladesh, and Development of the Laboratory Line (BAN Line) Derived from Them

Kinky Coat, a New Autosomal Recessive Mutation in the Musk Shrew, <I>Suncus murinus</I>

“…Origin : The history of the BAN strain of musk shrews was previously reported by Ishi-kawa et al [8]. The BAN strain has been maintained as a closed breeding colony in the Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Nagoya University.…”

“…Deliberate selection and close inbreeding have been avoided. General husbandry of the shrews is described by Ishikawa et al [8].…”

Development and Characterization of CATS Markers for Genetic Linkage Mapping in the House Musk Shrew, Suncus murinus

“…These polymorphisms must reflect the remarkable genetic difference between the two strains which have different geographical origins. The BAN strain was originally established from wild shrews captured in Bangladesh [11], whereas the WZ strain has been bred from wild shrews captured in Japan [21]. Extreme differences in adult body size and wild-type coat color have been reported between the two strains [10,12].…”

An Attempt at Reciprocal Crosses between Laboratory Strains of Large and Small Musk Shrews (<I>Suncus murinus</I>)

“…The histories of BAN and NAG strains were previously described by Ishikawa et al [11] and Oda and Kondo [16], respectively. Both strains have been maintained as closed breeding colonies.…”

“…The musk shrew (Suncus murinus), distributed widely throughout tropical Asia and the far east, shows a great deal of geographic variation in adult body weight, varing from 43.5g to 147.3g in males and from 26.0 to 82.0 g in females [7,[9][10][11]15,16,19,20]. There is a report on breeding experiments between small musk shrews from Guam and Madagascar [7], but fewer studies have attempted to demonstrate the genetic causes of evolutionary change in adult body weight of this species through mating tests between different body-sized shrews.…”