Ito S, Tsudzuki M
Department of Animal Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Gifu University, Japan.
J Hered. 1993 May-Jun;84(3):222-5. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a111324.
A new plumage color mutation in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) was named light down (LD) from its external appearance at hatching; it was expressed as an incompletely dominant autosomal gene, for which the symbol L is proposed. In the heterozygous neonates, black stripes on the head and back were narrow and yellowish stripes were wide, creating a lighter external appearance than that of the wild type. One-third of the homozygotes, which had creamy down plumules all over the body, died before hatching. All homozygous chicks allowed to hatch showed abnormal behavior and died within 1 week. The LD adults showed slightly diluted pigmentation all over the body, along with an increased number of transversal bars on the back and wing feathers, as compared with the wild type.
日本鹌鹑（Coturnix japonica）出现了一种新的羽色突变，因其孵化时的外观被命名为淡绒羽（LD）；它表现为一种不完全显性的常染色体基因，建议用符号L表示。在杂合子新生儿中，头部和背部的黑色条纹较窄，黄色条纹较宽，外观比野生型更浅。三分之一全身有奶油色绒羽的纯合子在孵化前死亡。所有孵化出的纯合子雏鸡均表现出异常行为，并在1周内死亡。与野生型相比，LD成年鹌鹑全身色素沉着略有变淡，背部和翅膀羽毛上的横向条纹数量增加。
