title: High-resolution mapping of the human 4q21 and the mouse 5E3 SCYB chemokine cluster by fiber-fluorescence in situ hybridization.
abstract: The CXC chemokine or small inducible cytokine B (SCYB) subfamily includes the T-cell chemoattractants MIG (CXCL9, SCYB9), IP-10 (CXCL10, SCYB10), and I-TAC (CXCL11, SCYB11). These three highly homologous chemokines lack the glutamic acid-leucine-arginine (ELR) motif and signal via the CXCR3 receptor. Previous work showed that the genes encoding these chemokines are localized in an individual mini-cluster on human Chromosome (Chr) 4 at position 4q21.2. Recently, we identified mouse Scyb11 and mapped this gene by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to mouse Chr 5E3, the orthologous locus to human 4q21 where the other two homologous mouse genes, Scyb9 and Scyb10, have also been localized. Since SCYB10 and SCYB11 are not represented in the recently published draft sequence of the human genome, we wanted to clarify exactly the order and distances of the three chemokine genes using two-color FISH on stretched DNA fiber preparations. Here, we report the simultaneous localization of all three genes and provide high-resolution visual maps of this chemokine cluster from both mouse and human. The three chemokine genes were found within a range of 32 kb on mouse and 29 kb on human DNA fiber targets. The precise physical distances were defined, and an almost identical arrangement of the human and mouse homologues was identified, indicating that this CXC chemokine mini-cluster has been completely conserved evolutionarily since the divergence of mouse and human. Our results refine previous maps of the three genes, support the hypothesis that they resulted from gene duplication that took place in a common ancestor of mouse and human, and provide complementary information on a region of the draft sequence of human Chr 4 that is not yet covered.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Biology and Human Genetics, University of Innsbruck, Schöpfstrasse 41, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. martin.erdel@uibk.ac.at
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Erdel
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Theurl
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Duba
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Utermann
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Werner-Felmayer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D054357:Chemokine CXCL10; D054371:Chemokine CXCL11; D054370:Chemokine CXCL9; D019743:Chemokines, CXC / Q000235:genetics*; D002894:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 4 / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D051379:Mice / Q000235:genetics*; D005810:Multigene Family; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: C114753:CXCL10 protein, human; C515202:CXCL11 protein, human; C080810:CXCL9 protein, human; D054357:Chemokine CXCL10; D054371:Chemokine CXCL11; D054370:Chemokine CXCL9; D019743:Chemokines, CXC; C485433:Cxcl10 protein, mouse; C515203:Cxcl11 protein, mouse; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins