ABSTRACT
The nu gene was transferred into a number of mouse strains bearing other important physiological or immunological defects. Particularly interesting is the remutation at the nude locus described by L. D. Schultz et al. in 1978. It occurred in inbred strain of the AKR/J and consequently it had no residual genetic contamination which remained after backcrossing. The survival time of the streaker mutant was about 240 days in conventional conditions and it was refractory to thymoma incidence which is almost 100% in AKR/J mice. Streaker mice have the same depletion of lymphocytes in the T areas. Streaker mice did not reject skin allografts and displayed a marked decrease of antibody responses to thymus-dependent antigens. The reduction of IgM antibodies to sheep red blood cells was 20-fold, compared to AKR/J controls. The viability and life span of the nude obese mice was astonishingly good, the diabetic syndrome and obesity developed later than in original obese mice; the obesity reached extreme values.
