Simultaneous yet independent inheritance of somatically acquired tolerance to two distinct H–2 antigenic haplotype determinants in mice

Abstract

Somatically acquired immunological tolerance to foreign histocompatibility antigens induced in male inbred mice can be transmitted at a high frequency to 1st- and 2nd-generation offspring without exposure of the progeny to the antigenic stimulus. These data support a hypothesis predicting soma to germ-line inheritance for acquired states of the immune system. Formal proof of this genetic scheme at the molecular level is not yet available. An even stronger reason for abandoning the notion of the isolation of the germ line from the soma (Weismann''s doctrine) would be provided by a clear demonstration of the multiple inheritance of independently acquired somatic characters. Individual male mice (B10) made tolerant to 2 different H-2 haplotypes (B10.BR, B10.D2) were shown here to transmit the tolerance state to each haplotype independently, yet often simultaneously, at a high frequency to both 1st and 2nd generation progeny.