eae36, a locus on mouse chromosome 4, controls susceptibility to experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in older mice and mice immunized in the winter.

Genetic factors are believed to contribute to multiple sclerosis (MS) susceptibility; however, strong evidence implicating intrinsic and environmental factors in the etiopathogenesis of MS also exists. Susceptibility to experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), the principal animal model of MS, is also influenced by nongenetic factors, including age and season at immunization. This suggests that age- and season-by-gene interactions exist and that different susceptibility loci may influence disease as a function of the two parameters. In this study, linkage analysis based on genome exclusion mapping was carried out using age and season at immunization restricted cohorts of (B10.S x SJL/J) F2 intercross mice in an effort to identify such linkages. Significant linkage of EAE to eae4 and eae5 was detected with 6- to 12-week-old and summer cohorts. In contrast, significant linkage of EAE to eae4 and eae5 was not detected with the >12-week-old and winter/spring populations. Rather, significant linkage to D4Mit203 at 128.50 Mb on chromosome 4 was detected with animals that were >12 weeks old at the time of immunization or were immunized in the winter. This previously unidentified locus has been designated eae36. These results support the existence of age- and season-by-gene-specific interactions in the genetic control of susceptibility to autoimmune inflammatory disease of the central nervous system and suggest that late-onset MS may be immunogenetically distinct.