The gene, or at least one of the genes, responsible for hereditary pancreatitis has been mapped to the long arm of chromosome 7 and a missense mutation, an arginine to histidine substitution at residue 117 in the trypsinogen cationic gene (try4) has been shown to segregate with the HP phenotype.
This position contrasts with that in hereditary pancreatitis in which a mutation in the cationic trypsinogen gene leads to a form of trypsin that resists degradation by mesotrypsin and enzyme Y.