Chromosomal localization of GPR48, a novel glycoprotein hormone receptor like GPCR, in human and mouse with radiation hybrid and interspecific backcross mapping

We report the chromosomal localization in both mouse and human of a novel G-protein-coupled receptor, GPR48, which resembles glycoprotein hormone receptors, that may be implicated in Wilms tumor deletion syndromes such as WAGR. This receptor forms a novel sub-family of glycoprotein hormone-like GPCRs. We have mapped this receptor to human chromosome 11p14-->p13 by several approaches, including radiation hybrid and interspecific backcross mapping, and show that GPR48 is close to BDNF. This data differs from the recently published mapping of LGR4 (5q34-->q35.1) (Hsu et al., 1998). Additionally, we show that Gpr48 and Bdnf are tightly linked on mouse chromosome 2, in a region with conserved synteny to human 11p14-->p13.