Abstract
Polymorphisms of the p53 tumor-suppressor gene and its related sequences were investigated among inbred rat strains. In a series of Southern blot hybridizations using the human p53 cDNA probe with various restriction endonucleases, HindIII digests and PstI digests showed interstrain variation in the length of hybridizing fragments. Distribution of the HindIII variant fragments among 17 inbred rat strains was identical with that of PstI variant fragments. The variant fragments were segregated as codominant alleles in backcross progeny, and the locus for this restriction fragment length polymorphism of the p53-related sequence was found to correspond to a p53-related sequence located on rat chromosome 9.
