WT cells have a selective advantage over WKO cells in spleen but not in bone marrow.

(A) Southern blot analysis of DNA from mixtures of WT and WKO BMCs (100% WT, 10% WT, 1% WT, 0% WT) used as donor cells in competitive repopulation analyses. (B) Representative Southern blot analyses of bone marrow and splenic tissue DNA from recipient mice 4 months after transplantation. Each lane represents a single recipient mouse for the mixtures indicated above the blot (4-5 animals/group). WT and WKO bands (5.5 and 7.5 kb, respectively) of XbaI digested DNA are noted. (C) Densitometric quantification of Southern blots of DNA from donor cell mixtures and DNA from bone marrow and spleens of transplant recipients. WT spleen cells in recipients of 10% and 1% mixtures have a selective advantage compared with WKO cells (4- and 13-fold, respectively). Two-tailed Student t test revealed P < .0001 and P = .00067 for comparison of recipient versus donor cell population of 10% and 1% mixtures, respectively, for spleen, and P = .3 andP = .07 for comparison of recipient versus donor cell population of 10% and 1% mixtures, respectively, for BM.