ISOLATION IF A YAC CLONE COVERING A CLUSTER OF 9 S100 GENES ON HUMAN-CHROMOSOME-1Q21 - RATIONALE FOR A NEW NOMENCLATURE OF THE S100 CALCIUM-BINDING PROTEIN FAMILY

S100 proteins are low-molecular-weight calcium-binding proteins of the EF-hand superfamily and appear to be involved in the regulation of a number of cellular processes such as cell cycle progression and differ entiation. More than 10 members of the S100 protein family have been d escribed from human sources so far, We have now isolated a YAC clone f rom human chromosome 1q21, on which 9 different genes coding for S100 calcium-binding proteins could be localized, Moreover, we have mapped the gene coding for S100P to human chromosome 4p16 and thereby complet ed the chromosomal assignments of all known human S100 genes. The clus tered organization of S100 genes in the 1q21 region allows us to intro duce a new logical nomenclature for these genes, which is based on the physical arrangement on the chromosome, The new nomenclature should f acilitate and further the understanding of this protein family and be easily expandable to other species. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.