Linkage studies in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy

Possible linkage between the locus for autosomal dominant facioscapulo-humeral muscular dystrophy and the locus for the constant region of the heavy chains of the IgG immunoglobulins (Gm) was tested in 1 kindred (23 affected and 18 unaffected sibs) using the polymorphic DNA probe D14S1, which is known to be closely linked with Gm. No linkage between the loci for the disease and the probe was found, and the lod scores suggested that the locus for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is not situated on the distal part of the long arm of chromosome 14.