Interpretation of Linkage in Somatic Cell Hybrids

Kao and Puck 1 have measured the linkage between human genes by studying their association in cell hybrids with Chinese hamster cells which carried mutations homologous to the human genes. Such studies are made possible by the extensive loss of human chromosomes from such hybrids. If, however, one of the human genes is retained owing to the operation of specific selection, the presence or absence of an unselected gene gives a measure of linkage between them.