Refined physical mapping of chromosome 16-specific low-abundance repetitive DNA sequences

Repetitive DNA sequences have been implicated in the origin of several disease phenotypes, including fragile X syndrome, myotonic dystrophy, and spinal bulbar atrophy. In addition, a complex family of chromosome 16-specific low-abundance repetitive (CH16LAR) DNA sequences have been mapped by fluorescence in situ hybridization to regions of chromosome 16 that undergo breakage/rearrangement in acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (ANLL) cells. It has been hypothesized that these repetitive sequences are causally related to the chromosome rearrangements found in ANLL. Here, we further refine the mapping of CH16LAR sequences with respect to the ANLL inversion breakpoints, using a panel of somatic cell hybrids containing 51 different chromosome 16 breakpoints. These studies indicate that CH16LAR sequences at 16p13 are in close proximity to the ANLL short-arm breakpoint region. However, the region containing the highest density of CH16LAR sequences on the long arm appears to be distal to the region where the ANLL long-arm breakpoint has been mapped. These studies further show that CH16LAR sequences map in close proximity to FRA16D and FRA16A.