An integrated genetic map of Chromosome 6

The short arm of Chromosome (Chr) 6 has long been a focus of attention for geneticists because of the HLA locus. More recently, interest has been focused on 6q because of the implication that it may harbor genes of importance in tumour progression; for example, malignant melanoma, T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, B-cell Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer and the demonstration of a Type I diabetes association locus. Several of these disease loci are concentrated in the telomeric region (6q25-q27). A dense map of polymorphic markers is the first requirement for identifying disease-related genes by positional cloning techniques. Genetic maps require the integration of polymorphic markers; that is, restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs), variable number of tandem repeat (VNTRs) minisatellites, and microsatellite markers genotyped on DNA from a common set of reference families into a single genetic linkage map. A common problem with the genetic analysis of disease mapping to Chr 6 is that many of the markers are unique to each genetic map with few common reference points. The improved and integrated genetic map presented in this report will be helpful in the genetic analysis of diseases mapping to the long arm of Chr 6.