A cosmid vector for systematic chromosome walking.

We describe the construction of a cosmid, LoristB, that contains SP6 and T7 phage-encoded RNA polymerase promoter sequences that are oriented towards and immediately adjacent to HindIII and BamHI cloning sites. We describe techniques for rapidly generating RNA probes from these promoters that must be complementary to the extreme left or right ends of the cloned DNA and can be used for library screening. Probe preparation requires neither prior knowledge of restriction sites nor fragment isolation. We also make extensive use of cos mapping restriction-mapping protocols that we have devised for our cosmid vectors for generation and alignment of steps in a cosmid walk.