The search for the cystic fibrosis gene

This article reviews progress made to date in the attempt to find the gene causing cystic fibrosis (CF). The search has been focused on a region of the human genome containing no more than 10 genes and has been accomplished in two steps. First, linkage analysis was used to localize the gene to the q31 band of chromosome 7. Subsequently, molecular cloning methods were employed to isolate DNA segments estimated to be within 400,000 base pairs of the CF gene. The current challenge in the research is to find the genes located in this interval and to then prove that one of them is the CF gene. The approaches by which this will be accomplished are discussed.