IDENTIFICATION OF HUMAN-CHROMOSOME REGION 3P14.2-21.3-SPECIFIC YAC CLONES USING ALU-PCR PRODUCTS FROM A RADIATION HYBRID

Deletion of DNA sequences from at least three different regions on the short arm of human chromosome 3 (3p13-14, 3p21 and 3p25) are frequent ly observed during the development of many solid tumors, including lun g cancers and renal cell carcinomas. In order to physically characteri ze the 3p21 region, we previously identified a radiation fusion hybrid that contained about 20 megabases of DNA from chromosome region 3p14. 2-p21.3. In this study total Alu-PCR products from this hybrid were us ed as a probe to isolate 86 yeast artificial chromosomes (YAC) clones from a 620-kb average insert YAC library (ICRF). Sixty-nine Alu-PCR ma rkers, generated from the YACs, and seven PCR primers were used to scr een for overlaps between individual clones. Seven contigs were identif ied encompassing 32 YAC clones. Based on previous information about lo calization of the PCR primers, the three largest contigs could be assi gned to smaller subregions between 3p14.2 and 3p21.3. By this work a l arge proportion of the 3p14.2-21.3 region is covered with large-insert YAC clones.