The gene responsible for LEC hepatitis, located on rat chromosome 16, is the homolog to the human Wilson disease gene.

We identified the rat homolog to the human Wilson disease (WD) gene as the gene responsible for hepatitis (hts) in the Long Evans Cinnamon (LEC) rat. A genetic study using fifty-three backcross progenies showed that the rat WD gene detected by Southern blotting using the human WD gene as a probe was tightly linked to the hts phenotype of the LEC rat with no recombination. LEC is a transcriptionally deficient mutant because no transcript of the rat WD gene could be found in the LEC rat by Northern blotting. This rat WD gene was mapped to 16q12.23-12.3 by fluorescence in situ hybridization and mouse x rat somatic cell hybrid analysis.