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Human Genome News, September 1991; 3(3)

First International Chromosome 4 Conference

A 2-day conference incorporating three meetings on the genetic and physical maps of human chromosome 4 was held June 22-23 in Philadelphia. Some 25 participants from 5 countries attended the conference, which was sponsored by the Centre d'Etude du Polymorphisme Humain (CEPH), NIH, and the Fox Chase Cancer Center.

The CEPH consortium group developing the genetic linkage map of chromosome 4 discussed marker inclusion, map development, significance criteria, and checks for genotyping errors. From CEPH data, Ken Buetow (Fox Chase Cancer Center) generated a preliminary 33-point multilocus map that encompassed all of chromosome 4 at an average resolution of about 8 cM.

The facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy consortium discussed recent data pooling for linkage analysis of this disorder, which has been mapped to 4q35-4qter.

In the plenary meeting, Peter Pearson (Johns Hopkins University) gave an overview of consensus vs component maps; he made the Genome Data Base (GDB) available to investigators during the conference. A number of individual presentations described chromosome 4 genetic and physical maps and specific loci or genes:

  • mouse homologies and human DNA variants associated with the c-kit oncogene and pigmentary abnormalities [Maja Bucan (University of Pennsylvania) and Richard Spritz (University of Wisconsin)];
  • evolution of the glycophorin gene family and an extensive physical map based on cosmid walking [Shinichi Kudo (La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation)]; and
  • identification of cDNAs in the 4p16.3 region [Olaf Riess (University of British Columbia), Leon Carlock (Wayne State University), Gert-Jan Van Ommen (Leiden University, Netherlands), and Richard Myers (University of California, San Francisco {USCF})].

Discussions included human chromosome 4 mapping resources now being developed and made available both by individual investigators and through the human genome center headed by Myers at USCF. These resources will help to generate high-resolution maps of regions near identified chromosome 4 genes and to develop chromosome 4 maps (radiation, genetic, and clone-based) not based solely on genes and genetic disorders.

Participants discussed organization of future workshops around GDB. The second chromosome 4 conference will be held June 13-14, 1992, in Leiden, Netherlands.

For complete proceedings of the conference, contact

  • Jeffrey C. Murray
    Department of Pediatrics
    Division of Medical Genetics
    University of Iowa
    Iowa City, IA 52242
    319/356-2674
    Fax: 319/356-3347

For information on the next chromosome 4 workshop, contact

  • Gert-Jan Van Ommen
    Leiden University
    Netherlands
    (Int.) 31/71-276075

Reported by Jeffrey C. Murray, University of Iowa

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Human Genome Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Human Genome News (v3n3).

Human Genome Project 1990–2003

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.

Human Genome News

Published from 1989 until 2002, this newsletter facilitated HGP communication, helped prevent duplication of research effort, and informed persons interested in genome research.