Prenatal diagnosis and linkage disequilibrium with cystic fibrosis for markers surrounding D7S8.

Three polymorphic DNA markers surrounding the D7S8 locus were tested for their usefulness in the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis (CF) by linkage analysis. The markers correspond to the loci D7S424 and D7S426. These polymorphisms were studied by centers in the U.S., the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Italy, using samples from populations throughout Europe and North America. The additional information provided by these probes increased the heterogeneity of the region from 50% to 58% and was essential for a completely informative diagnosis in one family. A very high degree of linkage disequilibrium was found between these markers, which span a distance of approximately 250 kb. In addition, linkage disequilibrium with CF was noted. Significant heterogeneity of linkage disequilibrium was found among the populations, both for the marker-marker pairs and between the markers and CF.