Dose-response relationship for X-ray induced dominant lethal mutations detected in mouse embryos in vitro

X-irradiated male mice sired offspring that expressed dominant lethal mutations during development in vitro. These mutations were expressed as arrest of the embryo either before or after blastocyst formation and were induced in germ cells irradiated as spermatids. When the dose-response data for the induced dominant lethal mutation rate were fitted to a linear-quadratic model for dose-response curves, they were found to be compatible with mutation induction by both one-track and two-track processes, and the calculated interaction distance agreed well with those values found for radiation-induced translocations in Vicia faba and mouse spermatogonia. This correlation suggests that dominant lethal mutations in embryos and translocations in germ cells both result from similar radiation-induced chromosome damage. (Auth.)