Fertility studies of complementing genotypes at the albino locus of the mouse

Abstract

Mice doubly heterozygous for 2 radiation-induced lethal alleles at the albino locus (c3H/c6H) show partial complementation: they are viable but runted and sterile. In c3H/c6H females oogenesis and mating are normal, but nearly all of their fetuses, even when genotypically normal (+/c3H or +/c6H), fail to survive beyond midgestation. Abnormalities of spermatogenesis, i.e. morphological defects in head condensation and a deficiency in numbers of maturing spermatids, are histologically detectable in the tests of c3H/c6H males. Spermatozoa from the vasa deferentia of such males are predominantly nonviable, immotile and grossly abnormal in morphology.