THE HUMAN NATURAL-KILLER GENE-COMPLEX IS LOCATED ON CHROMOSOME 12P12-P13

Natural killer (NK) cells preferentially express several type II glyco proteins of the calcium-dependent lectin superfamily. The genes coding for these molecules are clustered on the distal mouse chromosome 6 an d on the rat chromosome 4 in a region designated the NK gene complex. To date, no definite evidence of the presence of a NK gene complex has been found in humans. Here we report the assignment by fluorescence i n situ hybridization of the CD94 gene to human chromosome 12p12-p13, i n the same region where the CD69 and NKG2A genes had been previously m apped. In addition, using a yeast artificial chromosome contig spannin g this region we determined that the human CD94, NKG2A, NKG2C, NKGZE, and NKR-P1A (NKR) genes map to the short arm of chromosome 12. The dis tal to proximal position of these loci are: NKR-CD69 - CD94/NKG2A/NKG2 C/NKG2E. These data demonstrate the existence of a human NK gene compl ex located within a 5.6 cM interval flanked by the genetic markers D12 S397 and D12S89. The physical distance spanned by the NK gene complex in humans ranges between 0.7 and 2.4 megabases.