Fine mapping of a polymorphic CA repeat marker on human chromosome 19 and its use in population studies

A highly polymorphic microsatellite (CA)(n)-marker (CAct685) previously iso lated from human chromosome 19 cosmid library was localized near GPI in 19q 13.1. For the fine localization of this marker, the hybridization with chro mosome 19-specific cosmid libraries assembled in contigs was used. Polymorp hism analysis of the marker in 12 populations of Russia and neighboring cou ntries showed 14 alleles containing from 16 to 30 repeat units. Populations belonging to Indo-European, Uralic and Altaic linguistic families demonstr ated a great similarity in allele frequency profiles. Differences between t hese populations were lower for CAct685 than for classical markers. Allele distribution of CAct685 in a Chukchi population belonging to the Chukchi-Ka mchatkan linguistic family differs from those in all other populations, tha t may be typical for Mongoloid population or reflect an ethnic history of C hukchi as a small population. Thus use of the CAct685 marker seems to be ef fective for analysis of distant peoples. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.