Data on selection against BALB/c strain cells in mouse chimaeras

Abstract

The data are numerical data used to produce Figs. 2, 3 & 4 and Supplementary Tables S1, S2 & S3 in a manuscript entitled "Selection against BALB/c strain cells in mouse chimaeras" by Tang P-C, Mackay GE, Flockhart JH, Keighren MA, Kopakaki A and West JD. The study seeks to explain why BALB/c strain embryos tend to contribute poorly to mouse aggregation chimaeras. BALB/c cells were not preferentially allocated to any extraembryonic lineages in chimaeras but their contribution decreased between E4.5 and E8.5. The development of BALB/c strain preimplantation embryos lagged behind embryos from some other strains and the contribution that BALB/c and other embryos made to chimaeras correlated with their developmental stage at E2.5. This relationship suggests that the poor contribution of BALB/c embryos to aggregation chimaeras is at least partly a consequence of generalised selection related to slow or delayed preimplantation development.