GENETIC-LINKAGE OF FAMILIAL OPEN-ANGLE GLAUCOMA TO CHROMOSOME-1Q21-Q31

Glaucoma is a significant cause of blindness world wide. There is evid ence to suggest that at least a subset of the disease is determined ge netically. We studied 37 members of a family affected with an autosoma l dominant form of juvenile open angle glaucoma and 22 were found to b e affected. Linkage analysis using short tandem repeat markers mapped the disease-causing gene to chromosome 1q21-q31. Eight markers were si gnificantly linked (Z(max) > 3.0) to the disease, with the highest lod score 6.5 (theta=0), provided by D1S212. The atrial natriuretic pepti de (ANP)/receptor system has been proposed to have a role in glaucoma and one of the ANP receptor genes maps to chromosome 1q.