MOLECULAR-CLONING OF A GENE FROM CHROMOSOME-3 SPECIFIC GENOMIC LIBRARY THAT ENCODES A NOVEL CC-CHEMOKINE RECEPTOR-LIKE ISOTYPE

CC-chemokine receptors form a closely linked locus in the p21-23 regio n on the short arm of human chromosome 3. We report the isolation of a novel chemokine receptor like gene from a 'human chromosome 3 specifi c' genomic library, screened by cross-hybridization with cDNA probes d erived from known chemokine receptors. The gene, CKR-SKG2 contains an open reading frame that encodes a 359-377 amino acid protein, with two potential in frame start codons. However, comparative Southern blot a nalysis of human, mouse and hamster genomic DNA, revealed that CKR-SKG 2 is the hamster ortholog of a novel chemokine receptor. This presumab ly occurred because chromosome 3 used for construction of the genomic library were purified from a human-hamster somatic cell hybrid. Furthe r studies are underway to identify and clone the putative human homolo g of this novel chemokine receptor.