SCREENING OF A MOUSE HUMAN Y-CHROMOSOMAL COSMID LIBRARY FOR GENE CANDIDATES AND MARKERS BY USING (SHORT) OLIGONUCLEOTIDE PROBES/

A comprehensive approach is described for the identification of sequen ces of interest from a human Y chromosomal cosmid library via (short) consensus oligonucleotide probes. It involves the ordering of cosmid c lones grown in microtiter plates onto small filter membranes by a robo t workstation. A high number of the clones are characterized by their repetitive sequence content, either by ubiquitously interspersed simpl e tandem blocks or by Y-specific elements. The Y chromosomal repeat (D YZ2) appears underrepresented in the library. In contrast many novel m icrosatellite marker systems can now be developed for the Y chromosome on the basis of the simple repeat blocks described here. Though novel genes were not yet delineated so far, a number of candidate sequences with high coding potential and other interesting characteristics are described.