Genetical control of B-cell responses. IV. Inheritance of the unresponsiveness to lipopolysaccharides.

The inheritance of B-cell responsiveness to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was studied in 55 crosses between mice of the low-responder strain C3H/HeJ and the high-responder strains B10.5M and C3H/Tif. F1 hybrid mice between the low-and the high-responder strains, showed in every case responses which were intermediate between the responses obtained with each parent. The responsiveness among F2 hybrid and backcross mice to either high- or low-responder parents, segregated into intermediate, high, or low categories, respectively. The present results are compatible with the hypothesis that responsiveness to LPS is determined by one single, codominantly expressed, autosomal gene. The capacity to develop a specific thymus-independent response to a hapten-LPS conjugate, also under genetical control, was found to segregate together with the capacity to develop polyclonal responses to LPS.