XXY Mice

Welshons & Russell (1959) have presented data to show that the XO chromosomal constitution in the mouse is female. This conclusion was based on results of genetical tests with sex-linked markers and on chromosome counts. All XO females were matroclinous, that is, they had inherited their X-chromosome from their mother. Females of this type will arise when non-disjunction occurs in the meiotic divisions of the father and results in spermatozoa without a sex-chromosome. Alternatively, the paternal sex-chromosome may be lost from the fertilized ovum if non-disjunction of sister-chromatids occurs during the first cleavage division. This latter explanation has been urged by Ohno, Kaplan & Kinosita (1959), who found no evidence for non-disjunction of the X-and Y-chromosome in an extensive cytolosical examination of the mouse testis.