The tabby syndrome includes abnormalities of the coat and of the sinus hairs, of the teeth, of a multitude of exocrine glands and of some surface structures like tail rings, plicae digitales and the papilla vallata of the tongue. All structures known to be affected by the tabby gene arise by the downgrowth of a surface epithelium into the membrana propria. The involvement of some structures but not of others cannot be accounted for by common origin from one germ layer (as both ectodermal and endodermal derivatives are involved), nor by common function of the structures affected, nor by a time concept such that structures formed before a critical period escape unharmed. The fault may lie either with the surface epithelium, or with the stimuli from the membrana propria which elicit local downgrowth, or with the interaction between the two. It seems least likely that the fault lies with the membrana propria, but a decision cannot be made on the information so far available.

New facts concerning the manifestation of tabby in Ta/+ ♀♀ either lend no support to the ‘inactive X-chromosome’ hypothesis or are at variance with it.

The tabby syndrome is also found in the autosomal genes for crinkled and (presumably) downless.

You do not currently have access to this content.