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Patchy Retinal Degeneration in Tetraparental Mice

Abstract

TETRAPARENTAL mice, formed by combining two eight-cell stage embryos into one, provide a unique opportunity for studying mammalian developmental phenomena1,2. When the two embryos forming a given mouse originate from different inbred strains, the adult offspring displays chimaerism in many tissues including skin2, liver3 and blood4,5, if the two parental strains differ at a genetic locus expressed in the tissue under examination. The pattern of mosaicism can provide information on how the tissue developed. Although chimaerism in the nervous system would clearly be of great interest both from morphogenetic and physiological points of view, it has not until now been demonstrated in these mice, as far as we are aware.

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WEGMANN, T., LA VAIL, M. & SIDMAN, R. Patchy Retinal Degeneration in Tetraparental Mice. Nature 230, 333–334 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/230333a0

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