Myodystrophy, a new myopathy on chromosome 8 of the mouse.

A new recessive mutation, myd, causing a diffuse and progressive myopathy in the mouse is described. Histopathological comparisons with normal littermates showed widely distributed focal lesions in all skeletal muscles of myd/myd. Body and organ weights of affected mice were considerably less than those of normal littermates and the mean lifespan of myodystrophic mice that survived weaning was 17 weeks with a range of 5 to 39 weeks. Myodystrophy is located on chromosome 8; it is linked to Os with about 6 percent and to Eso with about 37 percent recombination.