The endothelin system, consisting of a series of potent vasoconstrictor peptides and their receptors, is potentially important in the control of blood pressure. We found that the gene coding for endothelin-2 (ET2), also known as vasoctive intestine peptide, cosegregated strongly with systolic blood pressure in a F2 population [F2(S x LEW)] derived from a cross of the Dahl salt-sensitive (S) rat and the Lewis (LEW/NCrlBR) (LEW) rat. The ET2 locus was assigned to rat chromosome 5. The testis-specific histone (HITH) locus also strongly cosegregated with blood pressure in the F2(S x LEW) population and was assigned to rat chromosome 17. Genetic maps of the regions containing the quantitative trait loci (QTL) for blood pressure on chromosomes 5 and 17 were constructed and the QTL were localized using the MAPMAKER/QTL program. The rat genes for endothelin-1, endothelin-3, and endothelin receptor A did not cosegregate with blood pressure in several F2 populations tested and were assigned to rat chromosomes 17, 3, and 19, respectively. Endothelin receptor B cosegregated weakly with blood pressure and was provisionally assigned to rat chromosome 15. We conclude that, in the rat, one new blood pressure QTL is located on chromosome 5 marked by the ET2 locus and another new QTL is located on chromosome 17 near the HITH locus.