[Role of recessive lethal genes in spontaneous embryonal lethality in random-bred rat and mouse populations in Cuba]

Spontaneous embryonic lethality and the recessive lethal gene frequency in the gene pool of noninbred mice and rats of the bioteria of the National Research Center of the Cuba Republic Academy of Sciences were investigated. It was established that the level of spontaneous embryonic lethality among mice increased greatly as compared to that in 1977 and was 40% (versus 20% in 1977). Of this number, 30% falls within the postimplantation period. In noninbred rats, these values constituted 21.4 and 8.1%, respectively. High embryonic lethality among noninbred mice may be determined by genetic causes and the influence of ecological factors. The frequency of recessive lethals among noninbred mice was 28%, that among rats 20.8%. It is characteristic that in both categories, recessive lethals became apparent only in the postimplantation period of embryogenesis.