Data from: Deletion/loss of bone morphogenetic protein 7 changes tooth morphology and function in Mus musculus: implications for dental evolution in mammals

Quantifying regulatory gene effects on dental morphology and function has
implications for the underlying mechanisms that generated dental diversity
in mammals. We tested the hypothesis that regulatory gene expression
changes lead to differences in molars using a neural crest knockout of
bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7) in Mus musculus. 3D geometric
morphometric methods were used to quantify the shape of the molar
toothrow. BMP7 mutants have extra cusps on the first upper and lower
molars, and alterations in cusp orientation and morphology. Further,
significant shape differences between control and mutant were found for
upper and lower toothrows. Mutant mice also exhibited differences in
attrition facets, indicating functional changes that could lead to
advantages chewing new food resources and eventually niche
diversification. The size ratio of the molars in the toothrow remained
unchanged, implying that BMP7 induced changes in molar size ratio are a
result of knocking out epithelial, rather than neural crest, expression of
BMP7. Our results indicate that changes in BMP7 expression are sufficient
to alter morphology and function of the toothrow, suggesting that BMP7 or
genes affecting its function could have played a role in structuring the
dental diversity of extinct and extant mammals.