Sex-chromosome constitution of postimplantation tetraploid mouse embryos

Abstract

Tetraploid mouse embryos were produced at the two-cell stage by blastomere fusion induced by inactivated Sendai virus. The embryos were from chromosomally normal female mice that had been fertilised by homozygous Rb(1.3)1Bnr males carrying a pair of large metacentric marker chromosomes in their karyotype. These "reconstructed" one-cell tetraploid embryos were then transferred to the oviducts of pseudopregnant recipients, which were subsequently autopsied early on the 10th day of gestation. Two-cell stage embryos that did not undergo blastomere fusion after 4-5 h were transferred to a second group of recipients, which were also autopsied early on the 10th day of gestation. From a total of 153 tetraploid embryos transferred to females that subsequently became pregnant, 135 implanted. Sixty-eight implantation sites were found to contain resorptions, whereas 67 contained mostly headfold presomite-stage embryos. Four embryos possessed four to six pairs of somites. All 57 embryos that could be analysed cytogenetically were found to be tetraploid. G-banding analysis revealed that 30 of these embryos had an XXYY and 27 and XXXX sex-chromosome constitution. The presence of two marker chromosomes in all mitotic preparations from each of these tetraploid embryos confirmed that they had all been produced by duplication of their original XY or XX diploid chromosome constitution, respectively. The XXYY:XXXX sex ratio observed was not significantly different from unity. In the control series of transfers, all of the embryos recovered were at the forelimb bud stage and had a diploid chromosome constitution. The results reported here differ from human clinical findings, in which the XXYY:XXXX sex ratio of 120 human tetraploid spontaneous abortions recovered over the last 20 years is 45:75. Possible explanations for these differences are briefly discussed.