Analysis of human HPRT deletion mutations with X-linked probes and pulsed field gel electrophoresis.

Because the human hprt gene is used in numerous mutation studies, it is important to fully characterize this gene. Therefore, our laboratory has undertaken to map the region around the hprt gene at band q26 of the human X chromosome. Utilizing hprt mutant T-cell clones isolated using the hprt clonal assay, which have deletions of all or part of the hprt gene, we have ordered 5 anonymous probes previously known to map in Xq26. Results suggest that this region includes between 460 kb and 18 Mb of DNA, which is at least 10 times the size of the hprt gene itself (43 kb). Pulsed field gel analysis of the region is underway to determine the exact distances between each of the anonymous probes and hprt and to determine deletion sizes in the mutant T-cell clones.