Analysis of RFLP has been employed in lymphokine genes of autoimmune and normal mice. No polymorphism could be detected in the loci containing IL-2, IL-2 receptor, IL-5, and IFN-gamma in NZB, NZW, BxSB, and MRL/lpr mice when compared with normal mice. Allelic forms were identified in the IL-1 alpha gene of BALB/c and in the IL-4 gene of NZW. The frequency of the Bam HI RFLP in the TNF-alpha gene of NZW which has been proposed to be associated with the development of autoimmune disease in (NZB x NZW)F1 mice has been analyzed in a number of different inbred strains and in wild mice. Since the same allele is inherited in most autoimmune, healthy laboratory and wild mice the TNF-alpha gene does not seem to be one of the causal agents that contributes to the development of autoimmunity in (NZB x NZW)F1 mice.