mortality/aging
• no viable mice are produced
|
embryo
• hatching from the zona pellucida is never observed
|
• the adhesive cells of the morula dissociate shortly after compaction and appear morphologically nonpolar
• notably, blastomers are still able to form desmosomes and tight junctions at sites of distorted cell-cell contact
|
• morulas grown in culture become decompacted, depolarize morphologically and fail to form a blastocoel as do wild-type morulas
|