Dorsoventral Patterning of the Mouse Coat by Tbx15 Dorsoventral Mouse Pigmentation Pattern Abstract Many members of the animal kingdom display coat or skin color differences along their dorsoventral axis. To determine the mechanisms that control regional differences in pigmentation, we have studied how a classical mouse mutation, droopy ear (deH), affects dorsoventral skin characteristics, especially those under control of the Agouti gene. Mice carrying the Agouti allele black-and-tan (at) normally have a sharp boundary between dorsal black hair and yellow ventral hair; the deH mutation raises the pigmentation boundary, producing an apparent dors