The gene triplet Rw W Ph controls murine haematopoiesis

Having shown a haematopoietic role for Patch (Ph), especially when doubly heterozygous with the mutant Wct (Loutit & Cattanach, 1983) we have similarly examined the Rw locus, the third member of the triplet. Mature Rw/+mice have a just detectable macrocytic anaemia. When doubly heterozygous with Wct and Wv the mild anaemia of these W mutants is exaggerated but with W19H (not anaemic as single heterozygote) red cell factors are as for Rw/+. Rw/+mice are strikingly more sensitive to the lethal effects of X-irradiation (MLD 6.66 +/- 0.10 Gy) on haematopoiesis than comparable +/+ mice (MLD 8 Gy). Those mice that do recover after X-irradiation do not exhibit the delay in recovery of erythropoiesis that is evident with characteristic W mutants in both single and double dose. Furthermore the double heterozygote Wct+/+Rw has a significantly lower MLD (5.19 +/- 0.17 Gy) for X-radiation than Wct/+ (MLD 6.48 +/- 0.24 Gy). We argue that all three loci W, Ph and Rw, influence haematopoietic stem cells, leading to increased radiosensitivity when deletions or mutant genes are present.