Variation in the number of genes coding for salivary amylase in the bank vole, clethrionomys glareola.

A Danish population of bank voles is polymorphic for three electrophoretically different salivary amylases; A, H and S, of which A is the most common. Both single-, double- and triple banded phenotypes were observed, and in several crosses two electrophoretic forms cosegregated. In addition to the qualitative variation, some individuals show consistent quantitative variation in the relative activities of their amylase bands. This variation has been qualified by spectrophotometrical measurements of the relative amounts of amylase protein in the various bands. --Seventy wild chromosomes were analyzed by determining the amounts of amylase they produced when heterozygous with a laboratory stock chromosome known to carry two closely linked amylase genes, both coding for a fourth electrophoretic variant, B. The amount of A-protein divided by half the amount of B-protein was used as an estimate of the number of A-genes on the tested chromosomes. The wild chromosomes fell into three clearly distinguishable classes: 9 clustered around a gene number estimate of one, 45 chromosomes yielded estimates around two genes, and the gene number estimate of the remaining 16 was close to three. The integer values of the gene number estimates and the cosegregation of electrophoretically different salivary amylases are consistent with the model that the population is polymorphic for chromosomes with either one, two, or three closely linked amylase genes. It is suggested that such gene number variation may be more common than generally recognized, and some other reported cases of quantitative enzyme variation, for instance that of human red cell acid phosphatase, are interpreted in terms of variation in the number of genes involved.