Inheritance of Susceptibility to Friend Mouse Leukemia Virus

Abstract

Based on the previous observation that a single major autosomal gene controls susceptibility to Friend leukemia virus in mice, an attempt was made to place the gene for susceptibility, Fv s , from susceptible DDD mice into the genetic complement of resistant C57BL/6 mice. The backcross system was adopted for this purpose, the heterozygotes being selected by progeny test at each generation. During successive backcrosses, the effect of gene Fv s was not diluted out, and progeny were almost always obtained as expected from the single-gene hypothesis, with respect to both genotype and phenotype. With the eighth backcross generation, brother-sister mating was done between the heterozygotes, and it produced mice homozygous for gene Fv s . These susceptible homozygotes and their progeny produced by incross could be assumed congenic with C57BL/6 mice except for susceptibility to Friend leukemia virus. The results indicate that the appearance of early splenomegaly in Friend virus-infected mice is under the control of a single major autosomal gene.