Genomic organization of the human folate receptor genes on chromosome 11q13

There has been interest in the high affinity folate receptor (FOLR) recently because of its high expression in the majority of ovarian tumors. The FOLR genes are part of a family that includes an adult gene, a fetal gene, and one or more pseudogenes, which have been localized to chromosome 11. As a step toward understanding why the adult FOLR gene product is expressed on tumors, we have determined the organization of all the human FOLR-related genes. YAC clones were isolated using the adult FOLR probe. The organization of the locus was determined by PFGE of YAC DNA and by YAC fragmentation. Four FOLR-related genes were found within 140 kb. The adult and fetal genes are not more than 23 kb apart, with the 3' end of the adult gene facing the 5' of the fetal gene. A physical map of over 900 kb of the surrounding region was also constructed. The chromosomal assignment of the FOLR locus was refined to 11q13.3-q13.5 telomeric of the FGF3 locus using fluorescence in situ hybridization.