S*S (Silver), S*N (wild type/gold), and S*AL (sex-linked imperfect albinism) form a series of alleles at the S(Silver) locus on chicken (Gallus gallus) chromosome Z. Similarly, sex-linked imperfect albinism (AL*A) is thebottom recessive allele at the orthologous AL locus in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). The solutecarrier family 45, member 2, protein (SLC45A2), previously denoted membrane-associated transporterprotein (MATP), has an important role in vesicle sorting in the melanocytes. Here we report five SLC45A2mutations. The 106delT mutation in the chicken S*AL allele results in a frameshift and a premature stopcodon and the corresponding mRNA appears to be degraded by nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. Asplice-site mutation in the Japanese quail AL*A... |