The comparative biology of chondrodysplasias in mice.

Several monogenic mutants in mice result in chondrodysplastic dwarfism. Although they have been studied by different protocols so that the data are not strictly comparable, they represent a spectrum of genetic defects of chondrogenesis that produce chondrodysplasias in mice and, by homology, in man. Because tissues and cells of mice are available for experimental study and the genetics of mice is under experimental control, these mutants can be employed to investigate the biochemical and physiological processes that are disrupted by specific mutations. The systematic study of these disturbed developmental and biochemical pathways will increase our understanding of chondrogenesis and chondrodysplasia as similar studies have done for intermediary metabolism.