Genetic analysis of the cause of exencephaly in the SELH/Bc mouse stock

A new mouse stock, SELH/Bc, having a high liability to exencephaly has been developed. About 17% of SELH fetuses are exencephalic. The genetic cause of this exencephaly was investigated in a cross to a normal related ICR/Bc strain and in subsequent classical genetic crosses (F2, first and second backcrosses). The data were compared with a number of genetic models, including that of a single recessive mutation with 17% penetrance. The data did not fit single-locus inheritance. The expectations from the multifactorial threshold model based on an underlying quantitative liability trait with additive inheritance were found to fit the data very well. The number of loci involved was estimated to be about two or three. About 70% of exencephalic SELH fetuses are female, and there is no overall deficiency of males. The relatively higher risk in females was constant across the genetic backgrounds in the experiment. In summary, the liability to exencephaly in SELH mice appears to be a multifactorial threshold trait, and it therefore resembles human neural tube defects in type of genetic etiology. SELH therefore may be a valuable animal model in the study of neural tube defects.     

Further genetic studies of the cause of exencephaly in SELH mice.

We have developed an inbred stock of mice called SELH that has a high frequency of the neural tube defect exencephaly at birth. A previous genetic study indicated that the exencephaly is due to two to three additive loci differing between SELH and a closely related normal strain, ICR/Bc, but this analysis was not designed to detect genetic maternal effects. Recently, we demonstrated that there is genetic polymorphism among normal mouse strains leading to differences in site of initiation of closure of the cranial neural tube. In the present study, an inbred substrain of SELH mice, with 24% exencephaly among embryos, was crossed with an unrelated normal strain, SWV/Bc, and the frequency of exencephaly in subsequent generations used to extend our understanding of the genetic cause of exencephaly in SELH mice. The purposes of the genetic studies reported here were twofold. First, based on the influence of genetic maternal effects on other genetically complex birth defects in mice, we hypothesized that the exencephaly of SELH mice would exhibit strong genetic maternal effects. This hypothesis was tested by comparisons among the four possible reciprocal backcrosses to SELH. The result was an overall frequency of 2.3% exencephaly in first backcross embryos with no difference among the four crosses and no evidence of genetic maternal effects. Second, the frequency of exencephaly recovered in the backcross and F1 embryos was compared with the previous genetic study and with various genetic models. The frequencies were similar to those obtained from the cross to ICR/Bc mice and were compatible with a hypothesis of additive gene action at a few loci.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Studies of a spontaneous lethal mutation at the albino locus in SELH/Bc mice.

We report a new mutation at the albino locus in SELH/Bc mice. The mutation arose spontaneously in a male mouse that appeared to be a somatic and germ line mosaic for a new albino (c) allele, provisionally named cBc. The mutation is a recessive lethal, causing embryonic death soon after implantation. We have shown that there is no detectable activity of the Mod-2 allele in cis with the mutation and conclude that the mutation is probably a deletion that includes the c locus, the Mod-2 locus, the intervening 2 cM, and at least one locus essential for postimplantation embryonic survival, either proximal to the c locus or distal to the Mod-2 locus. This new mutation is similar to most previously reported spontaneous mutations at the albino locus in that it arose in a somatic and germ line mosaic mutant animal but differs from them in that it is an embryonic lethal when homozygous and is apparently a deletion. SELH/Bc mice appear to have a high mutation rate. This lethal albino mutation that appears to be a postmeiotic deletion should be useful in the search for the mechanism of mutagenesis in SELH/Bc mice. It may also be useful in mapping essential genes in the c-locus region.     

Hyperthermia-induced exencephaly in mice: effect of multiple exposures

Pregnant LM/Bc female mice were given a 10-minute hyperthermic exposure in a 43 degrees C waterbath during the period of neural tube closure. On day 15.5 of gestation, the females were killed, and the fetuses were examined for exencephaly. Following a single treatment on day 8.0, 8.5, 8.75, or 9.0 of gestation 1.7, 13.6, 2.9, and 0.8% of the respective fetuses displayed exencephaly. With two treatments, one on each of gestational days 8.5 and 8.75, or three treatments, one on each of gestational days 8.5, 8.75, and 9.0, the percentage of exencephalic fetuses increased to 28.3 and 59.3%, respectively. The increased response to multiple treatments was not due to an increase in the number of susceptible embryos but rather was due to the increased number of treatments. The results of this study suggest that with increasing numbers of treatments, the embryo's ability to recover from the hyperthermic exposure is lessened, resulting in an increase in exencephaly.     

Multifactorial diseases: asthma genetics point the way

A recent study has identified the variation in the ADAM33 gene as an important risk factor for asthma. This is not only good news for asthma sufferers, suggesting new directions for diagnostics and treatment, but also provides encouragement that unravelling the genetics of common diseases may not be quite as hard as had been feared.     

A scanning electron microscope study of fetal eyelid closure accelerated by cortisone in SWV/Bc mice

Eyelid closure occurs earlier in SWV/Bc and CBA/J mouse fetuses whose mothers were treated with cortisone on day 14 of gestation than it does in fetuses from untreated mothers. Similar treatment prevents the open-eyes defect of lidgap-Miller mutant mice, but examination by scanning electron microscope (SEM) has shown differences in the periderm of the closing eyelids of the cortisone-treated mutant compared with those of untreated genetically normal fetuses. (Untreated mutant eyelids remain wide open and very abnormal). The present study has examined at the SEM level the accelerated eyelid closure of cortisone-treated normal strain, SWV/Bc, fetuses to investigate whether the differences from normal in the eyelids of treated lidgap-Miller fetuses are part of the mechanism of the cortisone "cure." At the SEM level, cortisone-accelerated eyelid closure of SWV/Bc fetuses is indistinguishable from that in untreated fetuses. This suggests that the early eyelid closure induced by cortisone in normal strain fetuses represents acceleration of the normal coordinated sequence of events that leads to closure, rather than an abnormality that fortuitously leads to closure. The data also indicate that the cellular abnormalities seen previously in treated lidgap-Miller mutant fetuses are a combination of 1) abnormalities due to the mutation that are not completely reversed by cortisone and 2) normal developmental stages that have become concurrent with the cortisone-induced late closure in lidgap-Miller mutant fetuses.     

Comparison of the incidence of 5-azacytidine-induced exencephaly between MT/HokIdr and Slc:ICR mice.

The incidence of 5-azacytidine-induced exencephaly was compared between MT/HokIdr strain (MT) and Slc:ICR strain (ICR) mice. MT mice have a genetic predisposition for exencephaly, but ICR mice do not. Pregnant mice were given 5-azacytidine (1 mg/kg to 100 micrograms/kg) injected intraperitoneally on Day 7.5 of gestation (vaginal plug day = Day 0.5), and fetuses were observed for external malformations on Day 18.5 of gestation. One hundred micrograms/kg 5-azacytidine induced exencephaly in MT mice but not in ICR mice, and 1 mg/kg 5-azacytidine resulted in resorptions in MT mice but caused exencephaly in ICR mice. These results indicated that MT mice had 10-fold more sensitivity to 5-azacytidine than ICR mice. It seems likely that less than effective doses of teratogens for animals without genetic predispositions are still effective in inducing malformations in animals with a genetic predisposition for malformations. When 4-somite-stage embryos of both MT and ICR mice were cultured in rat serum supplemented with 5-azacytidine, 0.02 micrograms/ml 5-azacytidine induced the failure of closure of cephalic neural tube in MT embryos but not in ICR embryos, and 0.2 micrograms/ml 5-azacytidine induced severe growth retardation in MT embryos but in ICR embryos it only induced embryos with smaller heads and fewer somites than in control. These results indicated that MT mouse embryos in culture also had a 10-fold-increased sensitivity to 5-azacytidine compared with ICR mouse embryos, suggesting maternal effects play no significant role in their increased sensitivity to 5-azacytidine.     

Haplotype-based genetics in mice and rats

Haplotype blocks are conceptually defined as genomic segments harbouring sets of coupled polymorphisms that reflect a common ancestral origin. Experimentally, however, haplotype blocks are characterized using computational algorithms based on incomplete inventories of polymorphisms. Haplotype blocks and their deduced strain-distribution patterns are considered to be extremely powerful for use in genetic association and mapping experiments in laboratory mice and rats. However, recent high-density SNP screening in commonly used mouse inbred strains reveals a complex pattern, suggesting that the current expectations for the use of haplotype blocks in genetic mapping will have to be revisited.     

The genetics of diabetes susceptibility in mice

The factors associated with a diabetes-susceptible genotype in mice exhibiting various forms of heritable glucose intolerance syndromes are discussed. Genetic models of insulin-dependent and non-insulin-dependent diabetes in mice are described. Although single gene mutations can be defined for each model that are major contributors to diabetogenic stress, polygenic interactions are required for the expression of a diabetic phenotype, and environmental factors are also contributory. Several strongly penetrant single gene mutations are capable of affecting obesity and insulin-resistant states. Analysis of inbred strain genomic interactions with one of these recessive obesity-producing genes, diabetes (db), suggests that development of a diabetic phenotype is dependent on the strength of an interaction between the db gene and sulfotransferase enzymes. Specifically, diabetes-susceptible vs. resistant inbred strain backgrounds can be distinguished by the extent to which the db mutation elicits an accelerated sequestration by sulfoconjugation of tissue estrogens while androgens remain free. In a male gender- (and Y chromosome-)associated model of transient glucose intolerance, stress as well as a requirement for both adrenal and testicular secretions are each components of the susceptibility background. In the obesity-associated diabetes models, autoimmunity, when it occurs, is a secondary reflection of pancreatic beta cell destruction. The nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse, in contrast, represents a model in which autoimmunity against beta cells is a primary event in the development of insulin-dependent diabetes. In NOD mice, a gene that is either the unique class II gene in the major histocompatibility complex or is in linkage disequilibrium with this complex makes a major (recessivelike) contribution to diabetes susceptibility. However, diabetogenesis can be mediated only through a multifactorial interaction among this susceptibility locus and multiple unlinked genetic loci regulating immune responsiveness. In addition, the NOD mouse represents one of the best models of diabetes available for demonstrating a critical interaction between heredity and environmental factors. The polygenic nature of the various heritable forms of glucose intolerance syndromes in mice points to a comparable or even greater genetic heterogeneity underlying the major types of diabetes in humans.     

Taking stock of complex trait genetics in mice

The mapping of complex trait loci in mice has recently become very popular thanksto dense genetic maps, better approaches to linkage analysis and the continued value of the mouse as a key model organism for human disease. Neverthelless, the ultimate goal remains very difficult: to identify genes that underlie complex traits and to understand their function at a molecular level. In assessing the prospects of current efforts, it helps to review the findings of earlier studies of complex traits and, despite all the technology, to be reminded of the inherent benefits and limitations at the source of genetic variation: the laboratory mouse. With the right perspective it should be possible for geneticists analysing complex triats to take full advantage of the resources that the genome project will provide.     

Studies of the effect of retinoic acid on anterior neural tube closure in mice genetically liable to exencephaly

Previously we have shown that all SELH/Bc mouse embryos close their anterior neural tubes by an abnormal mechanism and that 10-20% of SELH/Bc embryos are exencephalic. The purposes of these studies were (1) to observe the effects of retinoic acid on the frequency of exencephaly in SELH/Bc embryos; (2) to compare the SELH/Bc response with those of normal strains and of other neural tube mutants; and (3) to compare, between SELH/Bc and a normal strain (SWV/Bc), the effects of retinoic acid on morphology of the closing anterior neural tube. SELH/Bc was more liable to retinoic acid-induced exencephaly than were normal strains. After maternal treatment with 5 mg/kg retinoic acid on day 8.5 of gestation, 53% of SELH/Bc embryos had exencephaly, compared with 22% in ICR/Bc and 14% in SWV/Bc. When these results were transformed according to the assumptions of the developmental threshold model, the effects of genotype and retinoic acid appeared to be additive. Similar treatment on day 9 or 10 of gestation had little or no effect on the frequency of exencephaly in SELH/Bc mice. These results are similar to the reported responses of the curly-tail and Splotch mutants, where frequencies of spina bifida but not exencephaly were decreased. This pattern suggests that studies of effects of periconceptional vitamin treatment on risk of human neural tube defects should consider anencephaly and spina bifida separately. The study comparing the morphology of anterior neural tube closure in SELH/Bc and normal SWV/Bc embryos showed that retinoic acid delays the elevation of the mesencephalic neural folds. This results in a "stalling" of many embryos in the first steps of neural tube closure, with their neural folds remaining convex and splayed wide apart. The delay in fold elevation was superimposed on the different closure patterns of the two strains. The overall conclusion is that there is no nonadditive interaction in the parameters studied between retinoic acid treatment and the SELH/Bc genotype.