Developmental Analysis of Genetic Differences in Pigmentation in the Axolotl

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Abstract
The differentiation of pigment cells from explanted neural folds of black and white axolotls in Holtfreter''s soln. has shown that potential melanophores of both genotypes are capable of melanin synthesis in vitro. Melanophores from grafts of neural folds to the midventral belly region of both dark and white hosts exhibit no disadvantages for melanin synthesis in white embryos. Chromatophores from reciprocal grafts of neural crest between white and dark strains also produce pigment in both types of host. A striking difference in the distribution of melanophores according to host genotype has appeared in both homotopic and heterotopic grafts. Melanoblasts of both genotypes appear to migrate freely beneath epidermis of the black strain but not beneath epidermis of the white strain. The results of all experiments support the idea that the genetic differences in pigmentation are mediated through differences in the tissue environment and not in the chromatophores themselves, the white pattern resulting from an inhibitory effect concerned not with conditions for melanin synthesis but with the migration of melanoblasts.

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