Genetic dissection of susceptibility to murine ovarian teratomas that originate from parthenogenetic oocytes.

The LT/Sv mouse strain is characterized by its abnormally high incidence of spontaneous ovarian teratomas. These tumors have been shown to originate from parthenogenetic oocytes, which are spontaneously induced to divide. Both spontaneous parthenogenesis and ovarian teratomas are extremely rare for other mouse strains, including C57BL/6J. To identify the genes responsible for this unique phenotype of female LT/Sv mice, we performed linkage analysis of female (C57BL/6J x LT/Sv)F2 mice. A locus on chromosome 6 designated Ots1 (ovarian teratoma susceptibility) was identified as the single major locus that increases the frequency of teratomas in a semidominant manner.