Meiotic studies of translocations causing male sterility in the mouse

Unusual meiotic behavior of the XY chromosome pair was observed in sterile male mice doubly heterozygous for two Robertsonian translocations, Rb(16.17)7Bnr and Rb(8.17)1Iem. Nonrandom association between the X chromosome and the translocation configuration, ascertained from the frequencies of relevant C-band contacts, was found in 9 of 10 sterile males. Besides the nonrandom association, the XY chromosomes showed signs of impaired condensation, as judged by measurement of their lengths at diakinesis/MI of the first meiotic division. In contrast, neither nonrandom contact nor decondensation of the XY chromosomes pair was found in fertile males heterozygous for a single Robertsonian translocation, Rb1Iem or Rb7Bnr. The present observations lend indirect support to the working hypothesis advanced previously, the assumption that interference with X-chromosome inactivation is a possible cause of spermatogenic breakdown in carriers of various male-sterile chromosomal transloations. Alternative explanations of the available data, which cannot be ruled out, are briefly discussed.