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Maternal Thp lethality in the mouse is a nuclear, not cytoplasmic, defect
Nature
|April 5, 1984
Summary
The Thp mutation causes embryonic lethality when inherited maternally in mice. Nuclear transplantation experiments indicate this lethal effect originates from the female pronucleus, not the egg
Area of Science:
- Developmental biology
- Genetics
- Mouse models
Background:
- The Thp mutation in the mouse T/t complex exhibits parent-of-origin-dependent lethality.
- Maternally inherited Thp causes embryonic death, while paternally inherited Thp allows most embryos to survive.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine whether the lethal maternal effect of the Thp mutation is due to an oogenic (cytoplasmic) or embryogenic (pronucleus) defect.
- To investigate the inheritance mechanism of the Thp mutation's lethal maternal effect.
Main Methods:
- Reciprocal nuclear transplantation between one-cell embryos of Thp/+ and +/+ mice.
- Analysis of embryonic survival and developmental phenotypes following nuclear transfer.
Main Results:
- The lethal maternal effect of Thp persisted when Thp/+ pronuclei were transferred into +/+ cytoplasm.
- This indicates the defect is located within the pronuclei, not the egg cytoplasm.
Conclusions:
- The Thp mutation's lethal maternal effect is embryogenic, residing within the female pronucleus.
- This finding clarifies the inheritance mechanism of this specific T/t complex allele.