Assignment of the beta-arrestin 1 gene (ARRB1) to human chromosome 11q13

Two types of proteins play a major role in determining homologous desensitization of G-coupled receptors: beta-adrenergic receptor kinase (beta ARK), which phosphorylates the agonist-occupied receptor, and its functional cofactor, beta-arrestin. beta ARK is a member of a multigene family, consisting of six known subtypes, which have also been named G-protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRK 1 to 6) due to the apparently unique functional association of such kinases with this receptor family. The gene for beta ARK1 has been localized to human chromosome 11q13. The four members of the arrestin/beta-arrestin gene family identified so far are arrestin, X-arrestin, beta-arrestin 1, and beta-arrestin 2. Here we report the chromosome mapping of the human gene for beta-arrestin 1 (ARRB1) to chromosome 11q13 by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Two-color FISH confirmed that the two genes coding for the functionally related proteins beta ARK1 and beta-arrestin 1 both map to 11q13.