COLOCALIZATION OF P2Y2 AND P2Y6 RECEPTOR GENES AT HUMAN-CHROMOSOME 11Q13.3-14.1

Extracellular nucleotides mediate a number of physiological responses through either ligand gated P2X or G protein-coupled P2Y receptors. To date, six P2Y receptor subtypes, P2Y1-P2Y6, have been cloned. We mapp ed the human P2Y6 receptor gene to chromosome 11q13.3-13.5. Oligonucle otide printers complementary to a part of the human P2Y6 receptor cDNA were used to amplify a region from genomic DNA from a panel of mouse/ human somatic cell hybrid cell lines, each containing a single human c hromosome. A PCR product of the expected size (714 bp) resulted from a single hybrid cell line containing human chromosome 11. The gene was further localized to a region of chromosome 11 using a subchromosomal hybrid panel containing different segments of chromosome 11. Based on the specific PCR product obtained and its Southern hybridization to th e P2Y6 receptor cDNA, the human P2Y6 receptor gene was localized to ch romosome 11q13.3-13.5. Previously, we have localized the P2Y6 receptor gene to human chromosome 11q13.5-14.2. This is the first report of th e clustering of the P2 receptor genes. The clustering of these two P2Y receptor subtypes suggests a relatively recent expansion of the gene family by gene duplication.