Prenatal lethality in a transgenic mouse line is the result of a chromosomal translocation

We have produced a line of transgenic mice that is characterized by prenatal lethality. These mice bear a chimeric plasmid containing the long terminal repeat of the Rous sarcoma virus linked to the coding region of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene (pRSV-CAT). Mice heterozygous for the pRSV-CAT integration site are semisterile, producing litters approximately equal to 40% of the average size when crossed to normal mice. Approximately 50% of the progeny from such a cross bear the pRSV-CAT sequences and also produce litters of smaller size. An analysis of embryogenesis revealed that normal numbers of embryos implanted, but 60% failed to develop past day 7. Eight other independent transgenic lines containing RSV-CAT show no evidence of embryonic lethality; thus, it is unlikely that the defect observed is due to the direct effects of RSV-CAT expression. We have found that carrier mice bear a reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 6 and 17, T(6A2-6A3;17D-17E1), that can explain the apparent dominant embryonic lethality seen in this line. The site of integration has been localized by in situ hybridization at or near the translocation breakpoint in one of the translocated chromosomes (6(17)). Because the foreign DNA is present in one of the translocated chromosomes, we propose that this rearrangement was elicited by the introduction of foreign DNA.