Genotypic effects on gonadal size in fetal mice

Fetal gonadal size was measured on Days 13, 16 and 19 of gestation in the C57BL/6ByEss (B) and BALB/cByEss (C) inbred strains, their two reciprocal F1 hybrids (CXB and BXC) and in the CXBD and CXBE recombinant inbred lines. At Day 13, CXB F1 fetuses, with C57 fathers and BALB mothers, had significantly larger testes and ovaries than did fetuses of the other 5 stocks. On Day 16, BALB fetuses had significantly larger testes than did C57, while at Day 19 C57 fetuses had significantly larger testes than did BALB fetuses. The CXB and BXC F1 fetuses had significantly larger testes than did mice of the two parental strains on Days 16 and 19, even though the mothers of all 4 kinds of fetus came from the same two inbred strains. C57 and BALB mice did not differ significantly in ovarian size, but had significantly smaller ovaries than did mice of the other genotypes on Days 16 and 19. CXBD mice had the largest ovaries, followed by those of the F1 hybrids. Ovarian size in CXBE mice was similar to that in the CXB hybrids. There were strong maternal effects on gonad size on Days 13 and 19 of gestation. The genes that influenced fetal testicular and ovarian growth appeared to differ from those expressed post-natally at 30 and 60 days.