LINKAGE MAPPING IN PAPIO BABOONS - CONSERVATION OF A SYNTENIC GROUP OF 6 MARKERS ON HUMAN-CHROMOSOME-1

We have established multipoint genetic linkage among six loci in baboo ns (Papio hamadryas). Published PCR primers designed to amplify five h uman microsatellite loci were used to amplify homologous loci in 229 p edigreed baboons. Southern blotting was used to type two RFLPs in a fu nctional gene (antithrombin III) in a subset of those animals. All six loci are known to map to human chromosome 1q, a region of the genome predicted by karyotype studies to be conserved in baboons. Pairwise re combination frequencies and lod scores indicate that the six loci are also linked in baboons. Recombination distances among the loci are sim ilar to those reported for humans. Like humans, the baboons exhibit hi gher rates of recombination in females than in males. This study demon strates that (1) microsatellite loci first described and characterized in the human genome can be effectively used for genetic linkage mappi ng in nonhuman primates, (2) a group of genetic loci known to be linke d on human chromosome 1q are also linked in the baboon genome, and (3) sex differences in recombination frequencies among loci on human chro mosome Iq are also observed in the genome of this Old World monkey. Th is constitutes the first reported multipoint linkage map in any nonhum an primate. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.