Heritable translocation test and dominant-lethal assay in mice with methyl methanesulfonate.

A dominant-lethal test and a heritable translocation test were performed with methyl methanesulphonate (MMS) at 40 mg/kg by treating the sensitive periods of post-meiotic spermatogenesis i.e. spermatozoa and spermatids. In the dominant-lethal test 25 to 60% dominant-lethal mutations were obtained depending on the mating intervals. In the heritable translocation test 11% sterile and partially sterile F1 males were observed in 250 offspring of the MMS group. All of the 14 partially sterile and 6 of the 14 sterile F1 males were demonstrated to be translocation carriers. Fertility of the partial steriles was about 40% of normal fertility. The translocation frequencies in the primary spermatocytes of the partially sterile F1 males varied between 2 and 99%. Transmission of partial sterility and translocations was confirmed in the F2 generation. There were no partially sterile or sterile males among the 245 controls.     

XY pair associates with the synaptonemal complex of autosomal male-sterile translocations in pachytene spermatocytes of the mouse (Mus musculus)

Analysis of the chromosome behaviour at pachytene has been performed by means of the silver staining technique visualizing the synaptonemal complexes (SCs) in male mice heterozygous for the male-sterile translocations T(5;12)31H, T(16;17)43H and T(7;19)145H, respectively. The T(9;17)138Ca male heterozygotes and T43H/T43H homozygous males were used as fertile controls. The sterile mice displayed a high frequency (about 60%) of pachytene spermatocytes with autosomal translocation configuration located in close vicinity of the XY pair. The dense round body (XAB), normally located near the X-chromosome axis in fertile males, exhibited abnormal affinity to translocation configuration in the sterile translocation heterozygotes. The incomplete synapsis of autosomes involved in translocation configuration was observed in more than 70% of the pachytene spermatocytes with the male-sterile translocations but in less than 20% of the cells from T138Ca fertile male.s. A hypothesis relating the spermatogenic arrest of carriers of male-sterile rearrangements to the presumed interference with X chromosome inactivation in male meiosis is discussed.     

Cytogenetic effects of protracted gamma exposures from conception of male mice

In order to gain an overall picture of the genetic effects of an increased level of background radiation it is necessary to study the results of protracted exposures to embryonic and immature germ-cell stages as well as to stages found in the mature organism. For this purpose, litters produced by female mice, kept in a 10 or 20 rad/day ⁶⁰Co-γ-irradiation field, were kept in the same fields from conception until about 60 days later, having absorbed doses of 526 and 1078 rad respectively. Tests on exposed female offspring showed them to be sterile. 8 weeks after removal from the gamma field, mean testis masses of males in the 20 rad/day series were only half normal but those receiving 10 rad/day were little affected. Frequencies of translocations in spermatocytes at diakinesis/metaphase I were only slightly increased in the exposed series, differences not being significant. Estimated rates of translocation induction were around 5 × 10^?6 per rad, about one-third of those found after protracted γ-irradiation of stem-cell spermatogonia in the adult. Embryonic lethality in progeny of other similarly irradiated males (absorbed doses of 560 and 1040 rad), mated 2 months after removal from the radiation fields, was also increased slightly, but not significantly. Results are compared with others on the induction of chromosome aberrations and gene mutations, mainly by acute irradiation, in prenatal and neonatal male mice. It is concluded that early male germ-cell stages generally show a reduced genetic radiosensitivity after both acute and chronic exposures.     

Effects of post-irradiation interval on translocation frequency in male mice

Hybrid male mice were given 5 Gy + 5 Gy acute X-rays 24 h apart, with cytological examination of testes 16-19, 39-42 and 64-66 weeks later. Mean testis weights were significantly lower in the youngest group than in the other two. However, translocation frequencies in spermatocytes of the youngest group (mean of 0.57 per cell) were significantly higher than in either of the other two groups, which gave similar values averaging 0.36 translocations per cell. There was highly significant heterogeneity in translocation yields within the youngest group. The decline in translocation yield with time after irradiation is in line with that reported by Léonard and Deknudt (1970) in inbred strain C57BL males. Analysis of all available data suggests that high translocation yields are found during late stages in the process of germ-cell repopulation of the testis after high radiation doses and may be connected with changing frequencies of radiosensitive and radioresistant stem cell populations as repopulation proceeds.     

Gnome and other effects of a small translocation in the mouse

A semisterile F1 male mouse from an X-ray experiment produced about 25 percent lethal gnome young in outcrosses. These animals were about half normal size, with short tail and small eyes, and died at birth. Surviving progeny were of four classes: 1) like the sire, 2) semisterile, 3) normal, and 4) gnome-producing, but not semisterile. Two independent reciprocal translocations have been identified from the original male, one of the classic type giving semisterile heterozygotes and involving chromosomes 5 and 15. The second translocation seems to be very small, giving the gnome type as one duplication-deficiency product, and the other unbalanced type seeming to pass for normal, although large body size and occasional agnathism may be produced. The small translocation has been found linked with the loci of v (waltzing) and Sl (steel) on chromosome 10. Cytological study has not revealed obvious structural changes. The translocation is now maintained in the homozygous state. The designation T(10;?)2Ho is proposed.     

Chromosome pairing and germ cell loss in male and female mice carrying a reciprocal translocation

Female carriers of the T(5;12)31H reciprocal translocation had an average reduction of 73% in oocyte numbers compared with normal litter mates, which was of a magnitude similar to the reduction in sperm counts of male carriers. Analysis of synaptonemal complexes showed that the translocated chromosomes appeared as quadrivalents, or trivalents and univalents, or bivalents in both sexes. Quadrivalents were of three types: fully synapsed, with asynapsis confined to breakpoints, and with unsynapsed ends. There was more pairing in spermatocytes than in oocytes: 37% of spermatocytes, but only 14% of oocytes, contained a fully synapsed quadrivalent, and trivalents were also more frequently fully synapsed in spermatocytes. When these results are compared with those previously obtained for other chromosome anomalies, it becomes evident that there are considerable differences in chromosome pairing between males and females, and that different chromosome rearrangements differ in the relative amount of pairing failure occurring in male and female carriers.     

Activity of germ-cell mutagens and nonmutagens in the rat spermatocyte UDS assay

The ability of 13 chemicals of known germ-cell mutagenicity to induce unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) in rat spermatocytes was examined. At selected times following i.p. injection of test compounds, spermatocytes were isolated from Fischer 344 rats by enzymatic digestion of the seminiferous tubules and cultured for 24 h in the presence of [3H]thymidine. 7 compounds, methyl methanesulfonate, triethylenemelamine, cyclophosphamide, methylnitrosourea, ethylnitrosourea, procarbazine, and dibromochloropropane produced positive UDS responses in spermatocytes. These chemicals are also positive for specific locus mutations, heritable translocations, or dominant lethal mutations when administered to male rodents. Mitomycin C, which produces DNA interstrand crosslinks and induces heritable mutations and translocations in male germ cells, failed to stimulate UDS in rat spermatocytes. Germ-cell nonmutagens N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, dimethylnitrosamine, 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide, and ethylene dibromide were negative in the rat spermatocyte UDS assay. Correlation of these results with those of other assays for heritable mutations in germ cells indicates that the in vivo/in vitro spermatocyte DNA repair assay is useful in predicting the mutagenic potential of chemicals in male germ cells.     

Pachytene analysis of a man with a 13q;14q translocation and infertility. Behavior of the trivalent and nonrandom association with the sex vesicle

Pachytene analysis was undertaken in a sterile 13q;14q heterozygous translocation carrier in an attempt to follow the segregational behavior of the trivalent and to evaluate the relationship of Robertsonian translocations in man to the impairment of spermatogenesis. Well-spread bivalents from pachytene nuclei were identified by their chromomere patterns. The trivalent was found always in cis configuration. Silver staining demonstrated the loss of nucleolar organizer regions from the translocated chromosomes. A nonrandom association was found between the trivalent configuration and the sex vesicle in 61% of the pachytene nuclei examined. Such an association has been described before in mice heterozygous for Robertsonian or reciprocal translocations, and may thus represent a general phenomenon. As in mice, this contact was restricted to the centromeric region of the trivalent. A hypothesis relating the association of the trivalent with the sex vesicle to impairment of normal X-chromosome inactivation and subsequent spermatogenic breakdown is discussed. Other chromosomal abnormalities in which sex-vesicle anomalies are associated with male sterility (such as X-or Y-autosomal translocations) are also considered. It is proposed that any process interfering with normal X-chromosome inactivation in pachytene spermatocytes could disturb subsequent meiotic or postmeiotic germ cells development.     

Two different XY-quadrivalent associations and impairment of fertility in men

One sterile and one subfertile man with balanced reciprocal autosomal translocations, a t(9;15), and a t(14;21), were analyzed using whole mount pachytene spreads, histology, and semen analyses. In both probands with different types of quadrivalent complexes lack of pairing near the translocation breakpoints and significant associations with XY bivalents were found. Variability in the frequency of XY-quadrivalent contacts and an increase in late pachytene to 52% in t(9;15) and 90% in t(14;21) could be observed. The lower rate was associated with reduced postmeiotic spermatogenesis and the higher rate with complete spermatogenic arrest. In both translocation carriers the XY-quadrivalent association is considered to be the main cause for testicular malfunction rather than nonpaired segments in the multivalent complexes.     

The induction by X-rays of chromosome aberrations in male guinea-pigs, golden hamsters and rabbits. II. Properties of translocations induced in post-meiotic stages.

Translocations induced by X-rays in post-meiotic germ cells of male guinea-pigs, golden hamsters and rabbits were studied cytologically in the F1 sons of the irradiated males. The percentage of spermatocytes displaying multivalent configurations varied with the translocation, but the average percentage appeared to depend on the species: fewer quadrivalents were observed in hamster than in guinea-pig heterozygotes and most were recorded for rabbit heterozygotes. Chain quadrivalents were more abundant than ring quadrivalents at meiosis for the guinea-pig and hamster, in contrast to the mouse. Too few translocation heterozygotes were examined to determine which meiotic configuration was the more prevalent in the rabbit. In all three species, as in the mouse, translocations were found which caused male sterility, due to partial or complete failure of spermatogenesis, although most translocations caused semi-sterility. For these semi-sterile males both the frequency and time of embryonic death in the progeny appeared to be the same as in the mouse. It is concluded that similar types of chromosome aberrations are induced by X-rays in post-meiotic germ cells of male guinea-pigs, rabbits, golden hamsters and mice.     

Analysis of chromosome aberrations on the basis of synaptonemal complexes in the offspring of mice irradiated with gamma-rays

Electron-microscopic analysis of synaptonemal complexes (SC) spread on the surface of hypophase was carried out to study chromosome rearrangements in sterile and semisterile F1 offsprings of mice exposed to gamma-radiation at a dose of 5 Gy. Chromosome rearrangements were microscopically scored at diakinesis - metaphase I in the same animals. SC analysis at pachytene revealed chromosome rearrangements in 63% spermatocytes. Analysis of chromosomes at diakinesis - metaphase I in the same animals only revealed chromosome rearrangements in 32% cells. SC analysis permits detecting chromosome rearrangements undetectable at diakinesis - metaphase I.     

Meiotic analysis of two human reciprocal X-autosome translocations

Two cases of human reciprocal X-autosome translocation, t(X;12) and t(X;2), are described in sterile males, along with meiotic findings. Each carrier had inherited the translocation from his mother. Both showed azoospermia and germ-cell maturation arrest at the primary spermatocyte level, with most cells being arrested at the pachytene stage. A few metaphase I (MI) divisions were found, with occasional metaphase II cells being seen in the t(X;2) carrier. MI air-dried preparations gave clear evidence of chain quadrivalent formation. In the t(X;2) heterozygote, the pairing characteristics of the quadrivalent at pachytene were also analyzed in electron microscopic spreads. Disturbance of pairing around the breakpoints characterized most quadrivalents, and there was evidence in about 20% of the cells that nonhomologous pairing had taken place between the translocated chromosomes and the normal chromosome 2. Comparisons are made with similar nonhomologous pairing configurations seen at pachytene in quadrivalents of male reciprocal X-autosome translocations of the mouse.     

Translocations, the Predominant Cause of Total Sterility in Sons of Mice Treated with Mutagens

Histological and cytological analyses of the testes were carried out in 42 sterile sons of males treated in the spermatozoal or spermatid stage with 250 mg/kg ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) alone or after prefeeding with butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT); or treated with 200 R X-rays. Of the 42 sterile males, 17 had some mature spermatids, nine were blocked at diakinesis, 15 were blocked in pachytene, and one lacked spermatogenic cells altogether, having Sertoli cells only. Mitotic (spermatogonial) metaphases could therefore be analyzed in 41 of the males and meiotic configurations in 26.-(1) None of the males showed abnormalities in chromosome number, such as monosomy, trisomy, or mosaicism for either of these conditions. Certain classes of chromosome abnormalities that have been found associated with male sterility in other investigations, namely trisomies, XXY's, and X-autosome translocations, are not expected from treatment of 19A + Y cells when F(1) males are studied. (2) A very high percentage of the sterile males carried translocations. Direct meiotic evidence for this was found in 22 of the animals. In addition, 11 of the 16 that were blocked (or virtually blocked) in pachytene, and thus could be analyzed in mitosis only, consistently showed one abnormally short chromosome (or, one short plus one long), which presumably had resulted from unequal exchange (or sizable deficiency). Of the meiotically detected translocation males, 1 carried a T(A;Y), 17 had single autosomal translocations, and 4 had multiple autosomal rearrangements involving three, four, four, and six breaks, respectively. In addition, three males showed failure of X-Y pairing. (3) Translocations that cause sterility, rather than partial sterility, in males appear to be those in which at least one of the breaks occurs close to one end of a chromosome. The mitotic and meiotic evidences for this were found to be correlated. (4) It is proposed that many cases of induced F(1) male sterility may be the result of position effects produced when paracentromeric regions are translocated to euchromatic regions of certain other chromosomes. Since many translocations that produce partial sterility in the female cause complete sterility in the male, the male must be assumed to be more susceptible to disturbances of fertility by the postulated mechanism. (5) There is evidence that EMS, especially in the lower dose range, more often breaks chromosomes near one of their ends than does X-irradiation.     

Two new X-autosome Robertsonian translocations in the mouse

The influence of X-autosome Robertsonian (Rb) translocation hemizygosity on meiotic chromosome behaviour was investigated in male mice. Two male fertile translocations [Rb(X.2)2Ad and Rb(X.9)6H] and a male sterile translocation [Rb(X.12)7H] were used. In males of all three Rb translocation types, the acrocentric homologue of the autosome involved in the rearrangement regularly failed at pachytene to pair completely with its partner in the Rb metacentric. The centric end of the acrocentric autosome was found regularly to associate either with the proximal end of the Y chromosome or with the ends of nonhomologous autosomal bivalents; the proportions of cells with such configurations varied between pachytene substages and genotypes. Various other categories of synaptic anomaly, such as nonhomologous synapsis, foldback pairing and interlocks, affected the sex chromosome multivalent in a substantial proportion of cells. In one of the Rb(X.12)7H males screened, an unusual, highly aneuploid spermatocyte that contained trivalent and bivalent configurations was found. Rb translocation hemizygosity did not appear to increase to a significant extent the incidence of X-Y pairing failure at pachytene, although the incidence was elevated at metaphase I in Rb(X.12)7H animals. Overall, a comparison of the frequencies and types of chromosome pairing anomalies did not suggest that these were important factors in the aetiology of infertility in males carrying the Rb(X.12)7H translocation.     

Transmission of X-ray-induced reciprocal translocations in normal male mice and in male mice with a reduced sperm count due to translocation homozygosity

Normal (+/+) and translocation T(1; 11.13S)70H homozygous (T/T) male mice received 2 X 2.5 Gy X-rays with a 24-h interval. After 120 days, the frequency of late diplotene-metaphase I spermatocytes with translocation multivalents was 14.1% for +/+ and 13.7% for T/T males, respectively, in one group of animals of each type. The difference is not significant. A second group was allowed to sire progeny for 60 days with 2 normal females per week. Reciprocal translocations detectable at diakinesis/metaphase I were observed in 2.5% of the 395 male progeny from the irradiated +/+ fathers, and in 2.9% of the 489 male progeny from the irradiated T/T fathers. This leads to a pooled estimated transmission of 0.81 +/- 0.19. Translocations induced in the long 11.13 metacentric chromosome were not transmitted with a different frequency. The rate of heritable induced translocations in this study was 5.4 X 10(-5)/rad/gamete. On the basis of the data of Generoso et al. (1984) for the frequency of the heritable spontaneous translocations in male mice, it is concluded that, because of their low doubling dose (3.3-4.6 rad), the spontaneous translocations are probably of postmeiotic origin.     

Pachytene pairing in relation to sperm and oocyte numbers in a male-fertile reciprocal translocation in the mouse

In adult males carrying the male-fertile reciprocal translocation T(2;4)13H, body weights, testis weights, and sperm counts were higher in heterozygotes than in homozygotes. Heterozygotes whose mothers were C3H/He exceeded their reciprocal counterparts in the same criteria. At 3-4 days of age, no significant differences between homozygous and heterozygous females were found in body weight, ovarian volume, or oocyte numbers, although mean oocyte volumes were somewhat larger in heterozygotes than in homozygotes. In homozygous males and females the synaptonemal complexes of rearranged chromosomes appeared as bivalents that were indistinguishable from normal bivalents. In most gametocytes of heterozygotes, the translocation was present in the form of a quadrivalent. The degree of pairing failure was greater in oocytes than in spermatocytes. Terminal asynapsis of quadrivalents was very rare in spermatocytes, but it affected one quarter of the oocytes. Only very few translocation configurations were associated with the XY bivalent. It is concluded that the number of sperm produced in male heterozygotes can match the general increase in vigor by the formation of a high level of fully paired quadrivalents, whereas a greater degree of terminal asynapsis in the quadrivalents of oocytes may indicate a slightly more deleterious effect of this translocation on oogenesis.     

Sex-dependent frequency and type of autosomal univalency at the first meiotic metaphase in mouse germ cells

Univalents at the first meiotic metaphase in mouse spermatocytes occur mainly in the XY pair, making it difficult to compare the amounts of univalency in males and females. In this study, the amounts of autosomal univalency in male and female meiosis were compared using the model strain CBA-T6, in which univalency of the small marker autosome pair T6 has been shown to occur very frequently in spermatocytes. Mice from inbred CBA and DBA strains were also analysed. The total frequencies of univalency (sex chromosomes plus autosomes) in metaphase I spermatocytes were 45.6% in CBA, 36.9% in CBA-T6, and 37.3% in DBA males. The aneuploidy in metaphase II spermatocytes ranged from 1.4 to 3% in these strains, which was in agreement with previous findings that most primary spermatocytes with abnormal chromosome configurations are arrested in their development before metaphase II. In the CBA-T6 strain, autosomal univalency at metaphase I mostly involved chromosome pair T6; however, its frequency differed significantly between the sexes, amounting to 18.9% in spermatocytes and 4.3% in oocytes. In the CBA strain, autosomal univalents at metaphase I were seen in 7.7% of the spermatocytes and 1.4% of the oocytes and, in DBA mice, in 4.9% of the spermatocytes and 3.8% of the oocytes. However, in DBA oocytes, when univalency occurred it usually concerned a greater number of bivalents in one cell (range: 2-19 disjoined bivalents), a phenomenon very rare in males of this strain. This study shows that univalent formation differs between the male and female types of meiosis.     

Heritable translocation test on random-bred mice after prolonged triethylenemelamine treatment.

Heritable translocation and dominant lethal tests were conducted with random-bred Swiss albino male mice. The animals were provided drinking water containing triethylenemelamine (TEM) for 4 weeks, and were then mated for 3 successive weeks for analysis of dominant lethality and production of F1 progeny. Potential translocation carriers among F1 males were selected after two breedings and confirmed by cytogenetic analysis. Translocation heterozygotes were obtained in offspring of the TEM-treated groups, but not in the control groups. In F1 males produced from the first week of mating, the frequencies of translocations were 0, 1.78 6.2 and 10.0% for the control group and groups receiving TEM at 0.0125, 0.025 and 0.050 mg/kg/day, respectively, and in those produced from the third week of mating, the values were 0 and 2.1%, respectively, for the control group and the group receiving TEM at 0.050 mg/kg/day. F1 males from the second week of mating were not studied for the induction of heritable translocations. TEM-induced dominant lethality and heritable translocations were most prominent in the first week of mating after 4 weeks of treatment. In addition, heritable translocations appeared to be a more sensitive endpoint than dominant lethal mutations for the measurement of mutagenic effects of TEM.     

Association between synaptonemal complexes of sex and autosomal bivalents in male tx/ty mice as a possible cause of their sterility

Electron microscopic study of total preparations of synaptonemal complexes of spermatocytes I from sterile heterozygous male mice--t12/tw18; tw5/twPa-1; twPa-1/tw18 was performed. T/tw18 and C3H/N fertile heterozygotes were used in each variant as control. The cells are karyotyped in all experiments, as based on the measurements of the length of 19 SC autosomes and SC sex complex. All sterile compounds (spermatocytes) demonstrate high frequency of different types of associations (72%) between sex chromosomes and the autosome 17 carrying a chromosomal aberration in the region of the T-locus. The heterozygotes tx/ty used in our experiments show no disruption of chromosome synapsis, when even studied under electron microscope, though some atypical changes in the ultrastructure of chromosome axes and frequent atypical associations of the axes of XY-sex bivalents in sterile heterozygous animals exist.     

Strategies for detecting heritable translocations in male mice by fertility testing.

Data from a heritable translocation test were analysed to estimate the best rule for classification of F1 males in normals or partially sterile translocation carriers according to litter size or numbers of live and dead implants per mating. Six rules were compared for classification with up to three litter sizes per F1 male observed. The results indicate that a translocation rate of 2%, or at best of 1%, can be detected with reasonable cost.