SEGREGATION ANALYSIS OF THE MOUSE RB(6.16) TRANSLOCATION IN ZYGOTES PRODUCED BY HETEROZYGOUS FEMALE CARRIERS

The segregation products in zygotes of females heterozygous for the mouse Rb(6.16) translocation were studied. Of 191 first-cleavage metaphase zygotes recovered from 16 females mated to chromosomally normal males, 132 were cytogenetically analyzed after sequential G- and C-banding. There were no products of adjacent segregation, since the six chromosomal imbalances were unrelated to the translocation. Alternate segregation was seen in 126 (95.5%) of the zygotes, with 85 being chromosomally normal and 41 carrying the translocation. These results indicate preferential alternate segregation and a significant deviation from the Mendelian 1:1 ratio (P < 0.005) for reciprocal alternate segregants, as seen earlier for males with this translocation. However, the approximately 2:1 ratio for normal-to-balanced segregants in females is lower than the ratios consistently seen for males. This supports the notion that there are different underlying causes of the distortion in the sexes.