Assignment of the gene coding for phosphoribosylglycineamide formyltransferase to human chromosome 14

Purine-requiring Chinese hamster ovary cell auxotrophs of the complementation class ade^– E were hybridized with various human cells, and hybrids were isolated under selective conditions in which the retention of the complementing gene on the human chromosome is necessary for survival. Synteny analysis in 72 primary and secondary hybrid clones using isozyme, karyotypic, and biochemical methods provides evidence for an assignment of the gene for phosphoribosylglycineamide formyltransferase (GART, EC 2.1.2.2), deficient in ade^– E mutants, to human chromosome 14. The importance of this gene assignment to the development of hypotheses regarding the organization, structure, and regulation of genes involved in the same biosynthetic pathway in mammalian cells is discussed.