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Human Genome News, July 1990; 2(2)
Investigators Agree To Consolidate Map Data
Some 35 investigators at the international Workshop on Human Chromosome 21 agreed to consolidate their data into a unified map of the chromosome. Held April 2-3 in Bethesda, Maryland, the workshop was organized by David Cox (University of California) to establish the current status of both the physical and the genetic maps of chromosome 21.
The meeting consisted primarily of round-table discussions in which investigators presented their published and unpublished data. Many workshop participants felt that the chromosome-21 research community set a standard of cooperation likely to be emulated in many large-scale mapping efforts.
The meeting was successful on many levels; perhaps the most encouraging measure of success was the cooperation of participants in consolidating their data into a unified map of the chromosome, resulting in the definition of composite physical and genetic maps. Participants chose 23 reference markers, whose order on the chromosome is established, to define the physical map of chromosome 21. The nine markers serving as anchor markers for the genetic linkage map of chromosome 21 provide a common language and should facilitate assignment of additional markers to genetic and physical maps of chromosome 21.
Another achievement of the meeting was the establishment of the Chromosome-21 Joint YAC Effort to consolidate activities of the chromosome-21 research community in screening yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) library resources. David Patterson (Eleanor Roosevelt Institute for Cancer Research), whose laboratory is receiving a copy of the human YAC library from the Center for Human Genetics at Washington University, will screen the library on behalf of the community; screening is expected to minimize duplication of effort and to make the best use of resources. A number of laboratories will make their chromosome-21-specific YAC clones available to this international project for screening.
A YAC newsletter - FAX on the YACs - will be circulated to active participants in the Chromosome-21 Joint YAC Effort. It will coordinate production of sequence tagged sites (STS) for screening purposes and will generally report to the community the identity and integrity of the YACs being isolated. All isolated YACs will be freely available to participants in the joint YAC effort.
For information on the Joint YAC Effort, contact:
Reported by Sue Rider and David Cox
Department of Biochemistry
University of California at San Francisco
School of Medicine
The electronic form of the newsletter may be cited in the following style:
Human Genome Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Human Genome News (v2n2).
The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international 13-year effort, 1990 to 2003. Primary goals were to discover the complete set of human genes and make them accessible for further biological study, and determine the complete sequence of DNA bases in the human genome. See Timeline for more HGP history.
Published from 1989 until 2002, this newsletter facilitated HGP communication, helped prevent duplication of research effort, and informed persons interested in genome research.
