Genetic mapping of the erythropoietin receptor gene

We describe a novel, highly informative (polymorphism information content, PIC, = 0.86) simple sequence repeat polymorphism at the 5' end of the gene encoding the human erythropoietin receptor (EPOR) previously assigned to 19p13.2 by in situ hybridization. Fourteen different allelic size variants were identified in 12 families of the CEPH (Centre d'Etude du Polymorphisme Humain) family panel of 40 families. In pairwise linkage 16 of the 65 chromosome 19 markers reported to the CEPH database gave a lod score exceeding 3.0 when tested against EPOR. The most likely location of EPOR within a framework of 10 markers including orientation and information on reported physical assignments was pter-[INSR-D19S177-D19S176]-D19S24-LDLR-++ +EPOR-cen-D19S7-D19S49-D19S75-D19S47-AP OC2-qter, placing EPOR as the most proximal of the tested loci on the short arm. On an 11-point map the position and order for all other loci except INSR were supported by the data with odds exceeding 1,000:1. The polymorphism at the 5' end of EPOR should provide a useful landmark marker for future mapping studies of this region.