Allelism tests of 15 dominant cataract mutations in mice.

Fifteen autosomal dominant mutations that cause cataract of lenses in mice were tested for allelism. The outcrosses of double mutants revealed three allelism groups, consisting of 5, 4 and 2 mutations as well as 4 mutations which segregated independently. The results indicated 7 different cataract loci in the sample of 15 mutations. The biomicroscopic examination of the eyes showed that phenotypically similar as well as very distinct cataract mutations can be alleles of the same gene. Conversely, phenotypically similar mutations were shown to be non-allelic.