reproductive system
N |
• homozygous null females were fertile and phenotypically normal
• homozygous null males displayed normal testes, normal spermatogenesis, and normal fecundity at maturity
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• surprisingly, the litter size was significantly high when homozygous null males (which had been backcrossed with the C57BL/6 strain for >5 generations) were mated with females of the DBA/2N inbred strain (known for its small litter size)
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• mutant sperm showed a significantly increased fertilization ratio in superovulated oviducts relative to wild-type
• C3 complement deposition on acrosome-reacted sperm appeared unaffected
• production of double-transgenic mouse lines that carried a homozygous null gene with an additional green sperm transgene showed that mutant sperm exhibit increased competency of spontaneous acrosome reaction
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