A COLLECTION OF TRINUCLEOTIDE AND TETRANUCLEOTIDE REPEAT MARKERS USEDTO GENERATE HIGH-QUALITY, HIGH-RESOLUTION HUMAN GENOME-WIDE LINKAGE MAPS

We report a collection of tri- and tetranucleotide repeat sequence pol ymorphic markers used to construct genome-wide human linkage maps. Usi ng a strategy of marker selection to create libraries highly enriched for the presence of specific tandem repeat elements, we have developed over 2000 high heterozygosity, easy-to-use tri- and tetranucleotide s hort tandem repeat polymorphisms (STRPs). To date, over 1300 of these markers have been genotyped on the CEPH reference families. Additional STRPs were assigned to chromosomes using human monochromosomal somati c cell hybrids. The linkage maps constructed with these markers have b een integrated with other CEPH genotypes into a comprehensive high den sity linkage map. These STRPs have been shown to be robust for genotyp ing in a variety of laboratories using a variety of methods. The high quality of these STRPs makes them ideal candidates for use in genome-w ide linkage searches. The integration of these markers with physical m apping reagents and other genetic markers will create a resource for m oving from genome-wide linkage searches to rapid sublocalization of di sease loci.