Amplification of a variable region 3' to the human type II collagen gene (COL2A1) has permitted segregation analysis in a three generation Stickler syndrome pedigree. This family had previously proved uninformative for the known restriction fragment length dimorphisms. Amplification of the variable region revealed five distinguishable alleles, of which three were segregating in this family. The lod score in favour of linkage was 2.86 at zero recombination.