Polymorphism of rat alphafetoprotein and albumin genes

Restriction endonuclease digestion using Hind III and Msp I and Southern blot analysis of DNA from the liver of three inbred rat strains and one outbred strain using cDNA probes yields two banding patterns for the alphafetoprotein and albumin genes. Buffalo and Fischer DNA have one pattern whereas ACI had a different pattern for both genes. Sprague Dawley DNA contains fragments of both patterns suggesting heterozygosity in some individuals of this strain. These polymorphisms do not appear to be associated with any structural or biological differences in the proteins resulting from expression of these genes.