Assignment of the cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase gene (CARS) to 11p15. 5

The attachment of each of the 20 naturally occurring amino acids to their cognate tRNA isoaccepting families is catalyzed by a specific aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase. The structural genes encoding 10 of these enzymes have been assigned to specific human chromosomes. The HARS, LARS, RARS, and TARS genes, encoding histidyl-, leucyl-, arginyl-, and threonyl-tRNA synthetases, respectively, are all located on chromosome 5( 1, 5, 7, 9, 14). The MARS (methionyl-tRNA synthetase), NARS (asparaginyl-tRNA synthetase), VARS (valyl-tRNA synthetase), and WARS (tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase) genes have been assigned to chromosomes 12, 18, 6, and 14, respectively (3, 4, 6, 8). A gene originally identified as encoding glutaminyl-tRNA synthetase was mapped to chromosome 1q32-q42 (10). However, a recent study suggests that the product of this gene is, in fact, a multifunctional enzyme with both glutamyl- and prolyl-tRNA synthetase activities (2). The fact that 4 of the 10 aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase genes already mapped are located on chromosome 5 may be fortuitous but might also indicate an evolutionary or regulatory relatedness. It is therefore, of interest to map genes encoding other aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases to determine if additional examples of synteny exist. The recent isolation of cDNA and genomic DNA clones for human cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase has now enabled us to map the CARS gene to segment p15.5 on chromosome 11 by fluorescence in situ hybridization.