Assignment of the human RT6 gene to 11q13 by PCR screening of somatic cell hybrids and in situ hybridization.

RT6 is a T cell membrane protein that has attracted interest because a defect in RT6 expression is associated with susceptibility to autoimmune type I diabetes in DP-BB rats and NOD mice. Using PCR screening of human/rodent somatic cell hybrids and fluorescence in situ hybridization, we have determined that the gene for the human RT6 homologue is located at 11q13, centromeric to the gene for tyrosinase (TYR, albino locus) and telomeric to that for fibroblast growth factor 4 (FGF4). The data suggest that the human RT6 gene constitutes a new linkage group with TYR and the gene for olfactory marker protein (OMP) on 11q, which has a counterpart in mouse chromosome 7. Thus, in the human, the RT6 locus is dissociated from the hemoglobin beta chain locus (HBB) and its neighboring conserved linkage group at 11p15, in contrast to the mouse, in which RT6 shows a tighter linkage to Hbb than to Tyr. The results support the conclusion that there has been considerable intrachromosomal reshuffling of linked genes since the divergence of primates and rodents.