Inheritable Differences in the Electrophoretic Pattern of Hemoglobin Revealed in a Local Random-Bred Colony of Albino Rats

In a local colony of random-bred Albino rats, three different patterns of hemoglobin, arbitrarily denoted as patterns I, II and III, were detected by means of starch-gel electrophoresis in a discontinuous buffer system. Mating experiments showed that rats bearing pattern I and pattern III hemoglobin bred true. Crosses of pattern I with pattern III animals yielded only pattern II animals, and when the latter were mated inter se, the resultant F₂ generation showed approximately a ratio of 1:2:1 for patterns I, II and III, respectively. When F₁ animals from pattern I with pattern III crosses were mated back to animals of either parental type, the resultant ratio was found to be one pattern II: one pattern I or pattern III.