CONSTRUCTION OF A CONSISTENT YAC CONTIG FOR HUMAN-CHROMOSOME REGION 3P14.1

Chromosomal deletions and translocations of human chromosome region 3p 14 are observed in various human malignancies and suggest the existenc e of a tumor suppressor gene locus within this region. Tumors most fre quently affected by these aberrations are small-cell lung cancer and r enal-cell carcinoma. In continuation of our previously published YAC c ontig of chromosome region 3p14.2-p14.3, we report here on the constru ction of a YAC contig of at least 11 Mb that consisted of 171 YACs and covers the entire subregion 3p14.1. This contig includes the t(3;8) b reakpoint of a hereditary renal-cell carcinoma localized in 3p14.2 and extends into human chromosome region 3p12-p13. It defines the order o f 34 DNA probes in relation to reference markers D3S6 and D3S30 as wel l as the human protein tyrosine phosphatase-gamma gene. For 31 DNA pro bes we identified nonchimeric YACs by fluorescence in situ hybridizati on. The minimal tiling pathway consists of 16 yeast artificial chromos omes. As a prerequisite for identification of a putative tumor suppres sor gene within this region, this contig renders human chromosome regi on 3p14.1 accessible to gene isolation.