COMPARATIVE MAPPING OF DNA PROBES DERIVED FROM THE V-K IMMUNOGLOBULINGENE REGIONS ON HUMAN AND GREAT APE CHROMOSOMES BY FLUORESCENCE IN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of cosmid clones of human V- kappa gene regions to human and primate chromosomes contributed to the dating of chromosome reorganizations in evolution. A clone from the k appa locus at 2p11-p12 (cos 106) hybridized to the assumed homologous chromosome bands in the chimpanzees Pan troglodytes (PTR) and P. panis cus (PPA), the Gorilla gorilla (GGO), and the orangutan Pongo pygmaeus (PPY). Human and both chimpanzees differed from gorilla and orangutan by the mapping of cos 170, a clone derived from chromosome 2cen-q11.2 ; the transposition of this orphon to the other side of the centromere can, therefore, be dated after the human/ chimpanzee and gorilla dive rgence. Hybridization to homologous bands was also found with a cosmid clone containing a VkappaI orphon located on chromosome 1 (cos 115, m ain signal at 1q31-q32), although the probe is not fully unique. Also, a clone derived from the orphon V-kappa region on chromosome 22q11 (c os 121) hybridized to the homologous bands in the great apes. This ind icates that the orphons on human chromosomes 1 and 22 had been translo cated early in primate evolution. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.