Genetic and physical mapping of the fitness 1 (fit1) locus within the Fes-Hbb region of mouse chromosome 7.

Mutations at the fit1 locus affect normal pre- and post-natal development by retarding growth and reducing viability. We report mapping of the fit1 locus, by trans-complementation crosses to mice carrying deletions of the albino (c) locus in Chromosome (Chr) 7, to a subregion of the c-deletion complex within the Mod2-sh1 interval. The fit1 locus, which is currently defined by five N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU)-induced mutations, was found to map in a subregion between the eed and exed loci. A restriction fragment containing a deletion breakpoint that genetically defines the proximal border of fit1 was cloned, providing a DNA probe (RN302) that maps proximal to fit1. Long-range mapping with this probe, and with a DNA probe that maps distal to the fit1 interval, established that the region containing at least part of the fit1 gene is 530 kb or less. Positioning of fit1 between deletion breakpoints, and the isolation and mapping of a DNA probe proximal to it, should facilitate the cloning and molecular characterization of fit1, as well as of the eed locus and the tightly linked l(7)5Rn and l(7)6Rn loci.