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PohnB6F1: A Cross of Wild and Domestic Mice That Is a New Model of Extended Female Reproductive Life Span

¹ The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine.
² College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.
³ University of Texas Health Science Center, Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Study, San Antonio.
⁴ University of Michigan Geriatrics Center, Ann Arbor.

Address correspondence to David E. Harrison, PhD, The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine 04609. E-mail: david.harrison{at}jax.org

In the search for novel genetic diversity that affects the timing of life history traits, we investigated a wild-derived stock of mice (Pohn). Early generations showed extended reproductive life span; however, this phenotype diminished with propagation of the stock. Out-crossing latter generation Pohn mice to C57BL/6J (B6) mice produced PohnB6F1 hybrids with remarkably extended reproductive life spans—mean age at last litter of 647 ± 32 days—longer than for the parental strains (70% longer than Pohn, 88% longer than B6) and longer than for highly heterogeneous crosses of laboratory mice. Litter size among young PohnB6F1 adults was similar to parental stocks, but their age-related decline in litter size was delayed by 150–200 days, resembling the earlier Pohn generations. Possibly, out-crossing Pohn mice unmasked cryptic alleles that promote extended female reproduction. This work establishes the PohnB6F1 hybrid as a new model for delayed reproductive aging.