A SEQUENCE-READY HIGH-RESOLUTION PHYSICAL MAP OF THE BEST MACULAR DYSTROPHY GENE REGION IN 11Q12-Q13

Best disease, an autosomal dominant inherited macular degenerative dis order, was previously localized between D11S1765 and UGB (uteroglobin) in 11q13 by genetic linkage analysis. Since this region was found to be refractory to cloning in YAC (yeast artificial chromosome)-based ve ctors, a P1 artificial chromosome (PAC) contig was assembled. Gridded PAC libraries representing a 16-fold genome equivalent were screened b y hybridization using PCR products representing STSs derived from YAC end sequences, markers binned to 11q13, and PAC-derived insert ends, A highly marker dense similar to 1.7-Mb PAC contig that encompassed the disease gene region was constructed, allowing us to order accurately the markers throughout the region and to provide the most precise esti mate of its physical size. Using this contig, thus far we have mapped seven anonymous ESTs and five known genes into this region. This high- resolution physical map will facilitate the isolation of polymorphic m arkers for refinement of the disease gene region, as well as the ident ification of candidate genes by exon trapping, cDNA selection, and gen e prediction from PAC-derived genomic sequence. (C) 1997 Academic Pres s.