Mice with a strange coat color were found in the KSB strain and separated as KSB-fe after fixation for this gene. These mutant mice have faded coat color (black becomes gray), with white underfur, the pigment changing towards white accompanied by frequent skin lesions. Faded homozygotes show a loss of pigment granules with ageing. Genetic studies were conducted with mice bearing this faded coat color. The mode of inheritance of the faded coat color was established to be autosomal recessive and the name faded (fe) was proposed. Faded was not allelic to dilute (d), leaden (ln), beige (bg) or pink-eyed dilution (p) loci.