Human adenosine A1 receptor gene: systematic screening for DNA sequence variation and linkage mapping on chromosome 1q31-32.1 using a silent polymorphism in the coding region.

Adenosine is a major inhibitory neuromodulator in the central nervous system. One of the receptors mediating the central effects of adenosine is the adenosine A1 receptor. We performed a systematic mutation scan of the coding region of the adenosine A1 receptor gene to explore its variability in the general population. Investigating 40 unrelated healthy subjects by single-strand conformation analysis no sequence changes of likely functional relevance were observed. We detected, however, a frequent T to G substitution at nucleotide position 716 which constitutes the first variant described in an adenosine receptor gene. It was used for fine scale linkage mapping of the A1 gene. Employing a polymerase-chain-reaction-based restriction assay, we genotyped 7 CEPH families (Centre d'Etude du Polymorphisme Humaine) and mapped the receptor in a gene cluster around the renin gene on chromosome 1q31-32.1. In addition, we utilized the 716T/G polymorphism to demonstrate biallelic expression of the adenosine A1 receptor gene in adult human brain.