Chromosomal localization of a single copy gene by in situ hybridization--human beta globin genes on the short arm of chromosome 11.

1. The localization of the beta globin genes by in situ hybridization to fixed chromosomes is described. 2. The probe used was a [3H]cRNA copy of a genomic clone containing in total 4.4 kb of DNA and including the beta globin gene. 3. The evidence for the localization of the gene comes from three pieces of data. (a) Chromosome 11 is labelled to double the extent expected if the grains were randomly distributed, (b) the extra grains above background are clustered on the short arm of 11 close to the centromere, and (c) the absolute number of grains observed is very close to that predicted for a probe of that length by comparison with ribosomal genes. The localization is in agreement with that obtained by other methods. 4. This method could be extended to any gene for which a genomic clone containing at least 5 kb of single copy DNA is available.