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Hereditary tyrosinemia type 1 (HT1) is a severe autosomal recessive metabolic disease associated with point mutations in the human fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase (FAH) gene that disrupt tyrosine catabolism. An acute form of HT1 results in death during the first months of life because of hepatic failure, whereas a chronic form leads to gradual development of liver disease often accompanied by renal dysfunction, childhood rickets, neurological crisis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Mice homozygous for certain chromosome 7 deletions of the albino Tyr; c locus that also include Fah die perinatally as a result of liver dysfunction and exhibit a complex syndrome characterized by structural abnormalities and alterations in gene expression in the liver and kidney. Here we report that two independent, postnatally lethal mutations induced by N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea and mapped near Tyr are alleles of Fah. The Fah 6287SB allele is a missense mutation in exon 6, and Fah 5961SB is a splice mutation causing loss of exon 7, a subsequent frameshift in the resulting mRNA, and a severe reduction of Fah mRNA levels. Increased levels of the diagnostic metabolite succinylacetone in the urine of the Fah 6287SB and Fah 5961SB mutants indicate that these mutations cause a decrease in Fah enzymatic activity. Thus, the neonatal phenotype present in both mutants is due to a deficiency in Fah caused by a point mutation, and we propose Fah 5961SB and Fah 6287SB as mouse models for acute and chronic forms of human HT1, respectively.

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This study was conducted to characterize the chemistry associated with the decomposition of human remains with the objective of identifying time-dependent biomarkers of decomposition. The purpose of this work was to develop an accurate and precise method for measuring the postmortem interval (PMI) of human remains. Eighteen subjects were placed within a decay research facility throughout a four-year time period and allowed to decompose naturally. Field autopsies were performed and tissue samples were regularly collected until the tissues decomposed to the point where they were no longer recognizable (encompassing a cumulative degree hour (CDH) range of approximately 1000 (3 weeks)). Analysis of the biomarkers (amino acids, neurotransmitters, and decompositional by-products) in various organs (liver, kidney, heart, brain, muscle) revealed distinct patterns useful for determining the PMI when based on CDHs. Proper use of the methods described herein allow for PMIs so accurate that the estimate is limited by the ability to obtain correct temperature data at a crime scene rather than sample variability.

An unscheduled DNA synthesis has been clearly demonstrated in meiotic and postmeiotic germ cell stages of the male mouse after in vivo treatment with a 250 mg/kg dose of ethyl methanesulfonate. The germ cell stages showing unscheduled DNA synthesis range from early to middle meiotic prophase stages through early to middle spermatid stages. The initiation of this synthesis, taken to be repair of chemically damaged DNA in these germ cells, is rapid, beginning within 1 hour after the injection of ethyl methanesulfonate. Unscheduled DNA synthesis has not been detected in the most mature germ cell stages, which give rise to dominant lethal mutations, nor does it occur in germ cell stages where protamine has replaced the chromosomal histones.In the study ofchemical mutagenesis in a mammalian testsystem it is of great interest to know if the germ cells are capable of repairing damaged DNA (as well as other molecular targets), and the relationship between such a repair system, if it does exist, and the genetic consequences of such repair. Studies have been performed with a limited number of mammalian cell types (not including germ cells), which demonstrated repair of chemically damaged DNA. See, for example (1-4). However, in vivo repair of germ cell DNA after treatment with chemical agents has not been studied.It is possible to study DNA repair in meiotic and postmeiotic germ cells of male mice by making use of the wellstudied sequence of events that occurs during spermatogenesis and spermiogenesis (5-7). In developing male germ cells the last DNA synthesis takes place during a 14-hr period (7) in preleptotene spermatocytes. After DNA synthesis these spermatocytes continue to develop through a series of germ cell stages for about a 28-30 day period (5, 6) before the spermatids finally leave the testes and enter the caput epididymides. Two to three days later, the developing sperm reach the caudal epididymides, and, in two or three days more, they enter the vasa deferentia. If Recovery of Sperm Heads and DNA. At various times after treatment the animals were killed and the reproductive tracts were sectioned into three parts: the caput epididymides, the caudal epididymides, and the vasa deferentia (refer to Fig. 1). After pooling of the tissues from each region, the sperm heads were recovered by procedures already described (8).

A study of meiotic and postmeiotic germ-cell-stage sensitivity of male mice to induction of unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) by acrylamide showed that DNA repair could be detected in early spermatocytes (after the last scheduled DNA synthesis) through about mid-spermatid stages. No DNA repair could be detected in later stages. The maximum UDS response was observed 6 hr after i.p. exposure and was about 5 times greater than the response measured immediately after treatment. This is the longest delay between chemical treatment and maximum UDS response yet observed in mouse germ cells. There was a linear relationship between the UDS response and acrylamide exposure from 7.8 to 125 mg/kg. By using 14C-labeled acrylamide it was determined that the temporal pattern of adduct formation in testes DNA paralleled that of the UDS response, with maximum binding occurring 4 to 6 hr after exposure. In contrast, the temporal pattern of adduct formation in liver DNA showed maximum binding within 1 to 2 hr after exposure and was an order of magnitude greater than that found for the testis DNA.

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