Mini-mouse: phenotypic characterization of a transgenic insertional mutant allelic to pygmy.

A phenotypic analysis was performed on two alleles at the pygmy locus which arose by insertional mutagenesis in transgenic mice. Similar to the spontaneous mutant pygmy, the adult insertional transgenic mutants are 40% of the size of wild-type litter-mates whereas adult heterozygotes are 80% of wild-type litter-mates. An analysis of the various organs revealed that, in general, there was a reduction in weight of each organ commensurate with the overall reduction in body size. However, two organs did not follow this pattern, the brain being disproportionately larger and the adrenals disproportionately smaller in the mutant mice. In addition, mini-mice have less adipose tissue than their wild-type or heterozygous litter-mates. A developmental analysis determined that mutants could first be identified on the basis of reduced body weight at day 15.5 of gestation. The small size is not due to a growth hormone deficiency so these mice differ from other known dwarf mouse mutants. Therefore they should provide insight into the growth hormone-resistant human dwarfisms and help in furthering our knowledge of mammalian growth and development.