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Maternally transmitted factors modify development and malignancy of teratomas in mice

Abstract

Maternal effects on the genome of the developing embryo have been well documented for amphibians1,2. The existence of a similar maternal effect transmitted by the cytoplasm of the mammalian ovum has also been postulated3 but the evidence for this remains controversial and only one system, which demonstrates these maternal effects on development in the mouse, has been reported4,5. Mouse embryos (7-day-old) transplanted under the kidney capsule of adult isogeneic recipients give rise to either benign or malignant teratocarcinomas6, the yield of malignant tumours being high in some inbred strains but low in others7. In teratocarcinoma(TC)-permissive strains, such as C3H/He (C3H), or BALB/c, 50–70% of all embryo-derived tumours are malignant7, compared with only 10% in TC non-permissive strains, such as C57BL/6. This genetic non-permissiveness is not absolute and we have shown that the outcome of embryonic transplantations depends on both the embryo and the adult recipient of the graft6. We now present evidence that in reciprocal F1 hybrids, TC permissiveness is determined by maternally transmitted factors. As these matroclinous differences were evident during early stages of embryonic development when the embryo had only briefly been in contact with the uterus, we believe that the differences are due to cytoplasmic factors transmitted in the ovum rather than metabolic maternal uterine effects.

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Damjanov, I., Solter, D. Maternally transmitted factors modify development and malignancy of teratomas in mice. Nature 296, 95–96 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/296095a0

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