Germline integration of moloney murine leukemia virus at the Mov13 locus leads to recessive lethal mutation and early embryonic death.

Thirteen mouse substrains genetically transmitting the exogenous Moloney murine leukemia virus (M-MuLV) at a single locus (Mov locus) have been derived previously. Experiments were performed to investigate whether homozygosity at the Mov loci would be compatible with normal development. Animals heterozygous at an Mov locus were mated, and the genotype of the offspring was analyzed. From parents heterozygous at the loci Mov1 to Mov12, respectively, homozygous offspring were obtained with the expected Mendelian frequency. In contrast, no homozygous offspring or embryos older than day 15 of gestation were obtained from parents heterozygous at the Mov13 locus. When pregnant Mov13 females at day 13 and day 14 of gestation were analyzed, approximately 25% of the embryos were degenerated. Genotyping revealed that these degenerated embryos were invariably homozygous and the normal appearing embryos were either heterozygous or negative for M-MuLV. These results suggest that integration of M-MuLV at the Mov13 locus leads to insertion mutagenesis, resulting in embryonic arrest between day 12 and day 13 of gestation. It is possible that the Mov13 locus represents a gene or gene complex involved in the early embryonic development of the mouse.