Isolation and characterization of 19 dinucleotide repeat polymorphisms on chromosome 3p.

We have screened cosmids on chromosome 3p for (dC-dA)n.(dG-dT)n dinucleotide-repeat sequences. Eighty-nine of 155 cosmids (58%) contained (dC-dA)n.(dG-dT(n repeats as determined by colony hybridization with a (dG-dT)10 oligonucleotide probe; 29 of these were subcloned and the sequences flanking the dinucleotide repeats were determined. Nineteen of the 24 loci examined for polymorphisms by PCR were found to be polymorphic with heterozygosities ranging from 3% to 86%. These dinucleotide repeat polymorphisms will be useful markers for high-resolution mapping of genes that have been localized to 3p, including tumour suppressor genes associated with several types of cancer and genes responsible for various hereditary disorders, such as von Hippel-Lindau disease.