A cytoplasmically transmitted, diet-dependent difference in response to the teratogenic effects of 6-aminonicotinamide.

The frequency of congenital cleft palate produced by maternal treatment with 6-aminonicotinamide during pregnancy is lower in the C57BL/6J than in the A/J inbred mouse strain. In the C57BL/6J strain the frequency is lower when the mothers are maintained on Purina Lab Chow than when they are on Breeder Chow. A/J females do not show this effect of diet. There is a matroclinous reciprocal cross difference in frequency of induced cleft palate which persists in the back-cross when the F(1) mothers are maintained on Lab Chow but not on Breeder Chow.