Mouse interferon alpha and beta genes are linked at the centromere proximal region of chromosome 4.

In order to determine the chromosomal localization of the murine interferon-alpha (MuIFN-alpha) and murine interferon-beta (MuIFN-beta) genes the DNAs of a panel of somatic cell hybrids were analysed by Southern blot hybridization. The hybrid cells were derived from E36 Chinese hamster cells and GRSL or GR MaTu mouse cells and retained all hamster chromosomes but segregated mouse chromosomes. The MuIFN-alpha probe used was a 0.7 kb HindIII-EcoRI fragment derived from the MuIFN-alpha 1 gene which hybridized with both mouse and hamster DNA. However, four fragments present in EcoRI digests of mouse DNA were clearly absent from the hybridization profile of EcoRI-digested hamster DNA and could be used for detection of MuIFN-alpha sequences in the hybrid cells. The MuIFN-beta probe, a 0.5 kb BglII-BamHI fragment derived from the MuIFN-beta gene, hybridized with a 2.6 kb EcoRI fragment of mouse DNA and only weakly cross-hybridized with a 4.8 kb EcoRI fragment in hamster DNA. Southern blot analysis of DNA from mouse/hamster hybrids compared with the analysis of chromosome markers showed that both the MuIFN-alpha and the MuIFN-beta genes are located on chromosome 4. Analysis of DNA from hybrids that contained only part of chromosome 4 indicated that the MuIFN-alpha gene family and the MuIFN-beta gene are situated at the centromere-proximal region of the chromosome.