Immunological tolerance to a non-cytopathic virus is not inheritable in mice.

Male lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM) virus-carrier mice were mated to uninfected females and their offsprings tested for (i) LCMV virus and (ii) their potential to generate LCM virus-specific cytotoxic T cells. Among about 500 offspring tested no example of antigen-independent inheritance of tolerance to LCM virus was detected. Therefore inheritance of acquired tolerance cannot be observed in this murine infectious disease model.