Abstract
Acute lung injury (ALI) is a devastating condition resulting from diverse causes. Genetic studies of human populations indicate that ALI is a complex disease with substantial phenotypic variance, incomplete penetrance, and gene-environment interactions. To identify genes controlling ALI mortality, we previously investigated mean survival time (MST) differences between sensitive A/J (A) and resistant C57BL/6J (B) mice in ozone using quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis. MST was significantly linked to QTLs (Aliq1-3) on chromosomes 11, 13, and 17, respectively. Additional QTL analyses of separate and combined backcross and F(2) populations supported linkage to Aliq1 and Aliq2, and established significance for previously suggestive QTLs on chromosomes 7 and 12 (named Aliq5 and Aliq6, respectively). Decreased MSTs of corresponding chromosome substitution strains (CSSs) verified the contribution of most QTL-containing chromosomes to ALI survival. Multilocus models demonstrated that three QTLs could explain the MST difference between progenitor strains, agreeing with calculated estimates for number of genes involved. Based on results of QTL genotype analysis, a double CSS (B.A-6,11) was generated that contained Aliq1 and Aliq4 chromosomes. Surprisingly, MST and pulmonary edema after exposure of B.A-6,11 mice were comparable to B mice, revealing an unpredicted loss of sensitivity compared with separate CSSs. Reciprocal congenic lines for Aliq1 captured the corresponding phenotype in both background strains and further refined the QTL interval. Together, these findings support most of the previously identified QTLs linked to ALI survival and established lines of mice to further resolve Aliq1.