Fine-mapping quantitative trait loci affecting murine external ear tissue regeneration in the LG/J by SM/J advanced intercross line.

External ear hole closure in LG/J mice represents a model of regenerative response. It is accompanied by the formation of a blastema-like structure and the re-growth of multiple tissues, including cartilage. The ability to regenerate tissue is heritable. An F34 advanced intercross line of mice (Wustl:LG,SM-G34) was generated to identify genomic loci involved in ear hole closure over a 30-day healing period. We mapped 19 quantitative trait loci (QTL) for ear hole closure. Individual gene effects are relatively small (0.08 mm), and most loci have co-dominant effects with phenotypically intermediate heterozygotes. QTL support regions were limited to a median size of 2 Mb containing a median of 19 genes. Positional candidate genes were evaluated using differential transcript expression between LG/J and SM/J healing tissue, function analysis and bioinformatic analysis of single-nucleotide polymorphisms in and around positional candidate genes of interest. Analysis of the set of 34 positional candidate genes and those displaying expression differences revealed over-representation of genes involved in cell cycle regulation/DNA damage, cell migration and adhesion, developmentally related genes and metabolism. This indicates that the healing phenotype in LG/J mice involves multiple physiological mechanisms.