A human 12p-derived cosmid hybridizing to subsets of human and chimpanzee telomeres

The chromosomal locations of a cosmid-linking clone, cLN12-43, isolated from band 12p13 in man and containing subtelomeric repeat sequences, were determined by FISH. The cosmid hybridized to the telomeres of 3q, 6p, 9p, 12p, 15q, 19p, 20p, and 20q at high frequency and showed variable hybridization to 1p, 6q, and 9q. Two interstitial loci were detected, one at bands 2q13-->q14 and the other at band 12q13. The former corresponds to the fusion point of chimpanzee chromosomes 12 and 13, resulting in the human chromosome 2, whereas the latter may represent a similar but more ancient fusion event. The cLN12-43 cosmid was also shown to hybridize to a set of chimpanzee telomeres.