Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 April 2009
A new mutant (Wct) has been identified at the W locus of the mouse. The homozygote is poorly viable. Whereas the heterozygote (Wct / +) is only mildly anaemic like Wυ / +, the double heterozygote Wct + / + Ph is considerably more anaemic than Wυ + / + Ph and it and Wsh + / + Ph have significantly raised leucocyte counts. Wct + / + Ph is also unduly radiosensitive to whole body X-irradiation, 50% dying from haematopoietic failure at a dose of 4·59 ± 0·14 Gy, whereas the median for Wct / + was 6·49 ± 0·28 Gy. Serial blood counts of mice after low- or sub-lethal doses of X-rays revealed significantly more profound depression of counts of both red cells and leucocytes in Wct +, and more notably in Wct + / + Ph, than in + / + or Wsh / + (haematologically normal) iso-dosed mice. We conclude that control of haematopoiesis by chromosome 5 is not confined to the W locus but is shared by the linked gene Ph (and perhaps Rw) and that expression of the change is not limited to the erythron but involves the pluripotent haematopoietic stem cell.