Somatic cell hybrid panel and NotI linking clones for physical mapping of human chromosome 3.

To identify by positional cloning the putative tumor-suppressor genes on the short arm of human chromosome 3 that are involved in the initiation or progression of several human malignancies, we have developed human mouse somatic cell hybrids and NotI linking libraries. The somatic cell hybrids contain either the intact human chromosome 3 or its derivatives as the only human genetic material in rodent background. The somatic cell hybrid panel defines five chromosomal regions on the short arm and two chromosomal regions on the long arm of chromosome 3. Two hundred sixty-one NotI linking probes from three independently constructed linking libraries were assigned to the seven chromosomal regions. The somatic cell hybrid panel and the regionally localized NotI linking probes should facilitate the construction of genetic linkage and physical maps to identify various tumor-suppressor and disease-related genes not only on the chromosome 3p, but on the entire chromosome.