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The mutants exhibit an intense body tremor that is absent when they are sitting still (i.e. when mice are resting on their hind legs without moving their torso), and some torso swaying; head nodding behavior is observable, predominantly in older, male mutants. Hind limbs are splayed apart, and when picked up by their tail, the hind limbs of some mutants are clasped to the body; occasionally mutants may jump into the air. The onset of the phenotype is at 3 weeks of age (average 3.2+/-1.6 weeks; n=46); a colony can be maintained through regular breeding. Complementation analysis with Spnb4 (spectrin beta 4, old symbol qv, also known as lumbosacral neuroaxonal dystrophy; heterozygote x heterozygote matings)nmf379 resulted in 5 mutants in a total of 20 progeny, demonstrating that nmf470 represents an allele of nmf379, and therefore also of Spnb4. Standard pathology work-up on two mutants (172 days of age) revealed no abnormalities.
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