Fertility studies of complementing genotypes at the albino locus of the mouse.
Mice doubly heterozygous for two radiation-induced lethal alleles at the albino locus (C3H and C6H) show partial complementation: they are viable but runted and sterile. In C3H/C6H females oogenesis and mating are normal, but nearly all of their fetuses, even when genotypically normal (+/C3H or +/C6H), fail to survive beyond midgestation. Abnormalities of spermatogenesis, i.e. morphological defects in head condensation and a deficiency in numbers of maturing spermatids, are histologically detectable in the testes of C3H/C6H males. Spermatozoa from the vasa deferentia of such males are predominantly nonviable, immotile, and grossly abnormal in morphology.
D000417:Albinism / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D005838:Genotype; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D012098:Reproduction; D013091:Spermatogenesis; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000473:pathology; D013737:Testis / Q000473:pathology