A 33 BP MINISATELLITE REPEAT UPSTREAM OF THE MUTATED IN COLON-CANCER GENE AT CHROMOSOME-5Q21

We have found a 33 bp minisatellite repeat in the 5'-flanking region o f the mutated in colon cancer (MCC) gene at chromosome 5q21. Southern blot experiments demonstrated the locus specificity of the repeat. The number of repeat units varied between 5 and 11 with a heterozygosity of 0.56. The sequence 5'-AGG AGT GTG AAT GGG GCA TAG TGA ATG AGG GGA-3 ' of the repeat units does not match the consensus sequence of chi-rel ated minisatellites. The minisatellite is not expressed as part of a g ene transcription unit. However, it can be used as a tool for the dete ction of allelic changes at chromosome 5q21 on standard agarose gels.