Novel mutation in the first intron of the spontaneously hypertensive rat renin gene upstream of the tandem repeat element.

1. The first 1100 base pairs of the first intron of the renin gene was amplified from the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR), Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. A Bgl II restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) was identified in this region of the SHR renin gene. 2. Sequence analysis located the Bgl II RFLP between positions 500 and 505 of the reported rat renin gene. The new Bgl II cut site was produced by a single base mutation from G to A. 3. Whether this mutation in the first intron of the SHR renin gene plays a role in the reported overexpression of the renin gene in this strain remains to be elucidated.