Assignment of human plasma methylumbelliferyl-tetra-N-acetylchitotetraoside hydrolase or chitinase to chromosome 1q by a linkage study.

Plasma methylumbelliferyl tetra-N-acetylchitotetraoside hydrolase or chitinase (CHIT) might play a role in degrading the chitin wall of some microorganisms. In about 6% of Caucasian people the enzyme shows pseudodeficiency (defined as very low activity without apparent symptoms). We have mapped this locus by linkage analysis to the marker D1S306 (z = 4.00 at theta M = F = 0.0) on chromosome 1q between the flanking markers D1S191 and D1S245 in the area of 1q31-1qter.