GNAI3, GNAT2, AMPD2, GSTM are clustered in 120 kb of Chinese hamster Chromosome 1q

We studied a polygenic region located on Chromosome (Chr) 1q in Chinese hamster cells that is coamplified along with the AMPD2 gene. Previous sequence analysis identified both members of the GSTM family and the GNAI3 gene within a cloned 120-kb region surrounding the AMPD2 locus. We show here that the GNAT2 gene, which is inactive in the fibroblastic cells, lies within the 20 kb separating the transcriptionally active GNAI3 and AMPD2 genes. We map most gene ends by sequence comparison with human homologs; one is inferred from the presence of an unmethylated CpG island. This Chinese hamster locus corresponds to a region of conserved linkage between human Chr 1 (locus 1p13) and mouse Chr 3 (position 52.5 cM), where Gnai-3 and Gnat-2 have been mapped. The AMPD2 gene is presently unlocalized in human genome; its proposed position on mouse Chr 3 is at 53.4 cM. Our results, obtained by physical mapping, strongly suggest that the order and possibly the tight linkage of these genes are conserved on all three genomes.