Bone marrow transplants with low marrow cell doses (less than or equal to 4 x 10(8) cells/kg) from unrelated donors were carried out in 16 dogs conditioned with 9 Gy (900 rad) of total body irradiation. No immunosuppression was given after grafting. Eleven donor-recipient pairs were phenotypically identical (group 1) for the known antigens of the canine major histocompatibility complex (DLA) and in five the donor was homozygous and the recipient heterozygous for DLA (group 2), as determined by serological histocompatibility typing and mixed leukocyte cultures including homozygous cell typing. In addition, lymphocytes from donors and recipients in group 1 were mutually nonreactive in cell-mediated lympholysis; lymphocytes from recipients in group 2 were not cytotoxic against donor cells. Eight dogs rejected their grafts and eight showed sustained engraftment; of these, four died from graft-versus-host disease. The incidence of rejection was higher than in DLA-identical littermates but lower than in DLA-nonidentical unrelated or littermate dogs. These results indicate that antigens different from the recognized alleles at DLA are involved in the control of engraftment. These antigens most likely represent the expression of unrecognized differences within DLA or are coded for by a locus different from but linked to DLA-A, B, C or D; they are not recognized in the cell-mediated lympholysis assay.