Blood Groups of the Rat (Rattus Norvegicus) and Their Inheritance

Abstract

15 laboratory stocks and a collection of wild rats were studied. 2 agglutinogens were discovered: "A" (the agglutinin which acts with it is a natural ingredient of the blood of all rats lacking A) and "M" (the agglutinin which acts with it is not a natural ingredient of rat blood, but is produced by injecting blood containing agglutinogen M into rats which lack M). Wild rats and 10 laboratory stocks carried A and M, 4 stocks carried A only and one stock carried neither A nor M. Group M was found only in F2 recombinations. Agglutinogens A and M are inherited as simple dominant autosomal characters which segregate and recombine independently. No indication of linkage of either A or M was found with 8 mutant genes (agouti, kinky, red-eye, curley, curley2, hairless and hooded).