Development and initial characterization of xenomitochondrial mice

Xenomitochondrial mice harboring trans-species mitochondria on a Mus musculus domesticus (MD) nuclear background were produced. We created xenomitochondrial ES cell cybrids by fusing Mus spretus (MS), Mus caroli (MC), Mus dunni (Mdu), or Mus pahari(MP) mitochondrial donor cytoplasts and rhodamine 6-G treated CC9.3.1 or PC4 ES cells. The selected donor backgrounds reflected increasing evolutionary divergence from MD mice and the resultant mitochondrial-nuclear mismatch targeted a graded respiratory chain defect. Homoplasmic (MS, MC, Mdu, and MP) and heteroplasmic (MC) cell lines were injected into MD ova, and liveborn chimeric mice were obtained (MS/MD 18 of 87, MC/MD 6 of 46, Mdu/MD 31 of 140, and MP/MD l of 9 founder chimeras, respectively). Seven MS/MD, 1 MC/MD, and 11 Mdu/MD chimeric founder females were mated with wild-type MD males, and 18 of 19 (95%) were fertile. Of fertile females, only one chimeric MS/MD (1% coat color chimerism) and four chimeric Mdu/MD females (80-90% coat color chimerism) produced homoplasmic offspring with low efficiency (7 of 135; 5%). Four male and three female offspring were homoplasmic for the introduced mitochondrial backgrounds. Three male and one female offspring proved viable. Generation of mouse lines using additional female ES cell lineages is underway. We hypothesize that these mice, when crossbred with neurodegenerative-disease mouse models, will show accelerated age-related neuronal loss, because of their suboptimal capacity for oxidative phosphorylation and putatively increased oxidative stress.