A Contiguous Physical Map of the Pericentromeric Region of Chromosome 21q between D21Z1 and D21S13E

We constructed a long range restriction map of the pericentromeric 21q region between the centromere, identified by the alphoid DNA sequence D21Z1, and D21S13E. The physical map showed the order and intermarker distances of five new loci, including two for which highly informative dinucleotide repeat polymorphisms were identified. The total distance between D21Z1 and D21S13E was 2400 kb. Comparison of genetic and physical distances indicated that there is about 400 to 500 kb per centimorgan that is not significantly different from the average 470 kb per centimorgan for the whole of chromosome 21q. Our physical mapping results do not indicate suppression of recombination in pericentromeric 21q.