TAIL SHORT VARIABLE - CHARACTERIZATION OF A NEW MOUSE MUTANT, AND ITSPOSSIBLE ANALOGY TO CERTAIN HUMAN VASCULAR DISRUPTION DEFECTS

A new mouse mutant, tail short variable (Tsv) produces a reduction def ormity of the tail, growth retardation, and, in adults, a mild anemia. Genetic and embryological studies show that on all genetic background s there is variable viability of Tsv/Tsv and Tsv/+ and phenotypic over lap within these and with +/+. A modifier is located to a short segmen t of chromosome 7, which alters the tail length of Tsv/+ mice up to 15 %. The modifier, Tsv, and a coat texture mutant come from the same wil d Peru mouse. The tail deformity is associated with, and may be caused by, a vascular disruption of the caudal aorta starting on day 11 of g estation. Thus Tsv appears to be different from each of the thirty kno wn mouse mutants involving the tail. It is suggested that Tsv could be a mouse model for human conditions involving transverse terminal limb defects such as Moebius and de Lange syndromes. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.