A fascination with tailless mice: a scientific historical review of studies of the T/t complex.

The T/t complex of the mouse attracted many of the major figures of mouse genetics to perform genetic, cytogenetic, physiological, biochemical and molecular biological studies of it. These studies started with the discovery of short tailed mutants (Ts) and recessive lethal developmental mutations (ts) which mapped to the same "locus" in the early 1920s in France. However, due to the non-receptivity of French scientists to genetics, they continued to be studied in mostly Anglophone countries to be joined by a wider international community in the 1970s. These discoveries led to developmental studies of the lethal mutants which provided the origin of mammalian developmental genetics. The fascinating property of transmission ratio distortion (non-50/50 segregation of alleles in offspring of males) elicited tremendous interest. There were false leads (that the region consisted of unusual DNA, that the alleles controlled cell surface antigens on embryonic cells and spermatozoa) and exciting discoveries. This historical review provides a review of this extensive area of research and some of the individuals involved in it.