Effects of Mutant Steel Alleles on Leukemogenesis and Life-Span in the Mouse

Abstract

Mutant alleles at the steel locus produce the pleiotropic effects of congenital anemia, sterility, and lack of hair pigmentation. Strain (WC/Re × C57BL/6)F₁Sl/Sl^d mice lived only half as long as heterozygotes and homozygous normal controls, differing only at the steel locus. Lymphocytic leukemia developed spontaneously in 37% of mice of the Sl/Sl^d genotype at an average age of 370±25 days and In 5% of heterozygotes and homozygous normal controls at 965±41 days. Severe ulcerative dermatitis occurred in 56% of Sl/Sl^d mice at an average age of 441±21 days and in 20% of heterozygotes and homozygous normal controls at 722±50 days. The mutant steel alleles provided an opportunity for study of the role of chronic anemia in life shortening and of a mechanism of gene action in spontaneous leukemogenesis.