Patterning and gastrulation defects caused by the lethal are due to loss of .

The mouse haplotype, a variant 20 cM genomic region on Chromosome 17, harbors 16 embryonic control genes identified by recessive lethal mutations isolated from wild mouse populations. Due to technical constraints so far only one of these, the lethal, has been cloned and molecularly characterized. Here we report the molecular isolation of the lethal.

Analysis of the Fam181 gene family during mouse development reveals distinct strain-specific expression patterns, suggesting a role in nervous system development and function.

During somitogenesis differential gene expression can be observed for so-called cyclic genes, which display expression changes with a periodicity of 120min in the mouse. In screens to identify novel cyclic genes in murine embryos, Fam181b was predicted to be an oscillating gene in the presomitic mesoderm (psm). This gene, and its closely related paralog Fam181a, belong to the thus far uncharacterized Fam181 gene family.