A linkage study of cystic fibrosis in extended multigenerational pedigrees

The linkage of polymorphic DNA markers on chromosome 7 to cystic fibrosis (CF) was examined in two pedigrees and a number of smaller nuclear families. The pedigrees are multigenerational and together consist of more than 300 members including 30 affected individuals, while the nuclear families each have two generations and either two or three children with CF. Tight linkage was observed between the CF locus and the met oncogene locus theta = 0, zeta = 15.45), pJ3.11 (theta = 0, zeta = 10.07), and 7C22 (theta = 0, zeta = 6.64) in both the pedigrees and nuclear families with no evidence for recombination between CF and any of the DNA markers. Weaker linkage between the CF locus and the locus for the serum enzyme activity marker paraoxonase (PON) was detected, theta = 0.18, zeta = 0.76. The two pedigrees were sufficiently informative to detect significant linkage between CF and each of the three DNA markers previously shown to be tightly linked to the CF locus. These results establish a locus for CF in these pedigrees in the region of chromosome 7 nearest the three DNA markers met, pJ3.11, and 7C22 and are consistent with locus homogeneity for the defect causing CF in these populations and others that have been examined to date.