Selection in a Population of House Mice Containing Mutant Individuals

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Abstract
A population of house mice, Mus musculus, containing a pink-eyed, pale-yellow pelage mutation was discovered on a farm in Missouri. A live-trapping study was conducted in a granary and its environs at regular intervals for 1½ years. Laboratory crosses revealed that the mutation was the result of a simple recessive gene (p) which produced pink eye color and pale-yellow pelage in the homozygous condition. In December 1962, 30.3% of a demonstrated population of 58 mice were pale yellow mutants. Subsequent to this time, domestic cats were allowed free access to the granary from which they had been previously excluded. The predators selected very effectively against the light mutants, and by April 1963 all mutants had been eliminated from the population. The protective coloration of the normal agouti mice prevented their total disappearance. Yellow mice were not again seen in the population until after cats had been removed from the granary. The gene ( p ) remained in the population and was occasionally expressed in the homozygous condition. In the presence of predatory selection pressure, homozygous mutant mice were rapidly eliminated.

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