Chromosomal distribution of the human cardiovascular transcriptome.
On the basis of previous observations in chromosomes 21 and 22, we hypothesize that there is a tissue-specific organization of cardiovascular gene transcripts in the human genome. To examine the distribution of heart-derived transcripts, we assigned a nonredundant set of 4628 fetal and 3574 adult known and uncharacterized cardiovascular expressed-sequence tags (cvESTs) to 5-Mb chromosomal 'windows' on the basis of publicly available sequence mapping data. On a whole-genome level (36,617 genes), chromosome 17 (19.2% in fetal, 16.5% in adult) contained the highest proportion of cvESTs, whereas chromosome Y (2.0% in fetal and adult) contained the lowest. In total, 50 of the 639 windows contained a significantly higher proportion of cvESTs (P < 0.003) compared with the genome-wide cvEST gene density, particularly on gene-dense chromosomes (that is, 17, 19, 22) as opposed to gene-rich chromosomes (for example, 1, 2, 11). This report provides insight into a possible role for complex tissue-specific gene regulation in the human genome.
Barrans
J David
JD
The Cardiovascular Genome Unit, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis St., Thorn 1334, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Ip
James
J
Lam
Ching-Wan
CW
Hwang
Irene L
IL
Dzau
Victor J
VJ
Liew
Choong-Chin
CC
D002319:Cardiovascular System / Q000378:metabolism*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D030561:Databases, Nucleic Acid; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans
D018076:DNA, Complementary