Juvenile hemochromatosis locus maps to chromosome 1q in a French Canadian population

Juvenile hemochromatosis (JH) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder that causes iron overload. In the French Canadian region of Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean the worldwide largest cohort of JH cases has been identified. Here, we report the mapping of this large cohort of cases to the HFE2 locus on chromosome 1q. A maximum multipoint location score of 7.02 was observed with marker D1S2344. A common ancestral haplotype, showing the presence of a founder effect, was identified. The analysis of recombinants allowed us to confirm the JH candidate region.