The murine retinoblastoma homolog maps to chromosome 14 near Es-10

Abstract

Restriction fragment length variants have been exploited to map genetically Rb-1, the murine homolog of the human retinoblastoma gene. Rb-1 localized to mouse chromosome 14 on the basis of results from analysis of somatic cell hybrids. In an interspecific backcross involving Mus spretus, Rb-1 and the murine homolog of the human esterase D gene (ESD), which we refer to here as Esd, were inseparable. Furthermore, the strain distribution patterns of Rb-1 and Es-10 are the same in 31 of 32 recombinant inbred strains. Close linkage of the chromosome 14 morphological marker hairless (hr) to Rb-1 is also implied. These results localize Rb-1 on the mouse linkage map and provide close genetic markers to follow Rb-1 in somatic as well as in germline genetic experiments. Additionally, the results suggest that Es-10 is the murine homolog of ESD and provide further evidence for linkage conservation during mammalian evolution.