A note on the genetics of a unilateral senile cataract in mice.

Unilateral cataracts were investigated in 750 day-old BALB/c, C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mice, and the six reciprocal crosses between these strains. This abnormality of the lens appears to be inherited additively in the cross DBA/2xBALB/c (with incomplete penetrance in DBA/2 and F1 mice) but as a completely recessive character in the cross DBA/2xC57BL/6. The mode of inheritance may depend on the genetic background against which this phenotype is expressed, unless this abnormality is inherited as a threshold character. Aged DBA/2 mice may constitute a useful model for senile unilateral cataract, probably caused by early uveitis.