Genetics of horse acidic prealbumins.

HE term “prealbumin” was originally applied by SMITHIES (1955) to those zones of protein which migrate ahead of albumin in alkaline starch gel. Using acidic starch gel, BRAEND and EFREMOV (1965) and GAHNE (1966) detected numerous protein zones in horse serum that migrated ahead of albumin. Also, FAGERHOL and BRAEND (1965) demonstrated a multiplicity of prealbumin zones in human serum. GAHNE (1966) showed that the most anodal series of equine prealbumin zones belong to one genetic system, designated Pr, controlled by four codominant autosomal alleles. BRAEND (1967 a,b) described what appeared to be four additional systems of acidic prealbumins of horses and tentatively named them Xc, Xd, Xh and Xk, in decreasing order of mobility. The purpose of the present report is to describe a technique which permits good resolution of the prealbumin zones of horse serum, to present evidence for additional alleles at the Pr locus, and to present evidence on the genetic control of phenotypes in the Xk system.