[Genetic monitoring of laboratory rat strains by restriction fragment length polymorphisms of mitochondrial DNA].

Restriction fragment length polymorphisms of rat mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) were examined using various kinds of laboratory rat strains in Japan. The results show that mtDNA of laboratory rats, Rattus norvegicus, are highly polymorphic; at least 7 types, Aa, Ba, Bb, Cb, Dc, Eb, and Fa, were found with the use of 6 restriction enzymes, EcoR I, Hind II, Hha I, Hpa II, Taq I, and Hinf I. Types Aa, Ba, and Eb were distributed widely in several strains, whereas types Ba, Cb, Dc and Fa were limited to some specific strains. These results indicate that restriction fragment length polymorphisms of mtDNA can be applied to genetic monitoring of laboratory rat strains.