PARTIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PORCINE OBESITY GENE (OBS) AND ITS LOCALIZATION TO CHROMOSOME-18 BY SOMATIC-CELL HYBRIDS

Degenerate primers based on human and mouse obesity gene (OBS) sequenc ing data were used in the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain react ion (RT-PCR) of total RNA from pig white adipose tissue. Both strands of the resultant pig-specific 325bp DNA fragment were sequenced. Compa rison of the obtained sequence with known sequences revealed an 86% id entity with the human and 84% identity with the mouse OBS cDNA. The OB S gene was physically mapped to pig chromosome 18 by PCR analysis of s omatic cell hybrids, using pig-specific primers. This result is consis tent with the recent assignment of the human OBS gene to chromosome 7 and the observation made by comparative mapping that by using a human chromosome 7 specific library two segments of conserved synteny were d etected on porcine chromosomes 9 and 18. We conclude the border of con served synteny to be in the 7q31-7q32 region of the human chromosome.