A new Pax gene, Pax-9, maps to mouse chromosome 12.

Members of the Pax gene family have recently been shown to play important roles in mouse embryogenesis. Of eight so far characterized Pax genes, three have been associated with mouse developmental mutants. Here we report the cloning of a new Pax gene, Pax-9. Most of the DNA sequence encoding the highly conserved paired domain has been determined and compared with previously known paired domains. This comparison classifies Pax-9 as a member of the same subgroup as Pax-1/undulated. By analysis of the segregation of a Pax-9 restriction fragment length polymorphism and a large number of simple sequence length polymorphisms in an interspecific C57BL/6 x Mus musculus mollosinus backcross, Pax-9 was mapped close to the D12Nds1 locus on the proximal part of Chromosome (Chr) 12.