Faculty Bibliography

Nondisjunction in trisomy 21 has traditionally been studied by cytogenetic heteromorphisms. Those studies assumed no crossing-over on the short arm of chromosome 21. Recently, increased accuracy of detection of the origin of nondisjunction has been demonstrated by DNA polymorphism analysis. We describe a comparative study of cytogenetic heteromorphisms and seven PCR-based DNA polymorphisms for detecting the origin of the additional chromosome 21 in 68 cases of Down syndrome. The polymorphisms studied were the highly informative microsatellites at loci D21S215, D21S120, D21S192, IFNAR, D21S156, HMG14, and D21S171. The meiotic stage of nondisjunction was assigned on the basis of the pericentromeric markers D21S215, D21S120, and D21S192. Only unequivocal cytogenetic results were compared with the results of the DNA analysis. The parental and meiotic division origin could be determined in 51% of the cases by using the cytogenetic markers and in 88% of the cases by using the DNA markers. Although there were no discrepancies between the two scoring systems regarding parental origin, there were eight discrepancies regarding meiotic stage of nondisjunction. Our results raise the possibility of recombination between the two marker systems, particularly on the short arm.

A DNA polymorphism has been found in the 3' untranslated region of the carbonyl reductase gene (CBR). Genotypes of the members of the CEPH pedigrees have been obtained and used in linkage analysis to map the CBR gene in the linkage map of human chromosome 21. The gene maps between the interferon-alpha receptor (IFNAR) and the D21S55 loci.

A plasmid, AWZ1, that contained a dinucleotide (GT)n repeat was identified from a chromosome 21-specific genomic library. When amplified by PCR from human genomic DNA, the repeat length was highly polymorphic between individuals; its location, D21S215, was mapped in the CEPH pedigrees by linkage analysis to the pericentromeric region of chromosome 21. It is the closest polymorphic marker to alphoid sequences on this chromosome.

We report the cloning, sequencing, and mapping of three short sequence repeat polymorphisms due to tetranucleotide (TAAA)n repeats from human chromosome 21. These DNA markers (D21S221, D21S225, D21S226) have been cloned from the chromosome 21-specific plasmid library of J. C. Fuscoe, C. C. Collins, D. Pinkel, and J. W. Gray (1989, Genomics 5: 100-109) and were shown to be polymorphic by polymerase chain reaction amplification and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Genotypes were determined in informative CEPH pedigrees and used in linkage analysis relative to other mapped markers on human chromosome 21. One of these markers, D21S221, is closely linked to the amyloid precursor protein gene (APP), which has been implicated in the etiology of familial Alzheimer disease in some families.

To further develop the linkage map of human chromosome 21 (HC21), we have concentrated on identifying highly polymorphic markers based on dinucleotide repeat sequences such as (GT)n, as these are often highly polymorphic, are widespread throughout the human genome, and can be rapidly analyzed by the polymerase chain reaction. We report here nine (GT)n polymorphic markers from HC21.

We have detected a polymorphism in the 3' untranslated region of the AML1 gene, which is located at the breakpoint on chromosome 21 in the t(8;21)(q22;q22.3) translocation often associated with patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Informative CEPH families were genotyped for this polymorphism and used to localize the gene on the linkage map of human chromosome 21. The AML1 gene is located between the markers D21S216 and D21S211, in chromosomal band 21q22.3.