Oligosyndactylism Mice Have an Inversion of Chromosome 8

The radiation-induced mutation Oligosyndactylism (Os) is associated with limb and kidney defects in heterozygotes and with mitotic arrest and embryonic lethality in homozygotes. We reported that the cell cycle block in Os and in the 94-A/K transgene-induced mutations is due to disruption of the Anapc10 (Apc10/Doc1) gene. To understand the genetic basis of the limb and kidney abnormalities in Os mice we characterized the structural changes of chromosome 8 associated with this mutation. We demonstrate that the Os chromosome 8 has suffered two breaks that are 5 cM ( approximately 10 Mb) apart and the internal fragment delineated by the breaks is in an inverted orientation on the mutant chromosome. While sequences in proximity to the distal break are present in an abnormal Os-specific Anapc10 hybrid transcript, transcription of these sequences in normal mice is low and difficult to detect. Transfer of the Os mutation onto an FVB/N background indicated that the absence of dominant effects in 94-A/K mice is not due to strain background effects on the mutation. Further analysis of this mutation will determine if a gene interrupted by the break or a long-range effect of the rearrangement on neighboring genes is responsible for the dominant effects of Os.