IDENTIFICATION OF A YEAST ARTIFICIAL CHROMOSOME SPANNING THE 8Q12 TRANSLOCATION BREAKPOINT IN PLEOMORPHIC ADENOMAS WITH T(3-8)(P21-Q12)

A subgroup of pleomorphic adenomas of the salivary glands is character ized by translocations involving chromosome 8, with consistent breakpo ints at 8q12. As part of a positional cloning effort to isolate the ge ne(s) affected by these translocations we now report the mapping of th e 8q12 breakpoint in two primary pleomorphic adenomas with the recurre nt t(3;8)(p21;q12). Yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) clones correspon ding to eight different loci in 8q11-12 were isolated and mapped by fl uorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The t(3;8) breakpoint was map ped within a I Mb region flanked by MOS proximally and by the genetic marker D8S166 distally. One YAC within this region was shown to span t he t(3;8) breakpoint in two tumors. This YAC will provide an excellent tool for isolating the gene(s) at the breakpoint(s) in adenomas with t(3;8). (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.