ASSIGNMENT OF THE HUMAN PULMONARY SURFACTANT PROTEIN-D GENE (SFTP4) TO 10Q22-Q23 CLOSE TO THE SURFACTANT PROTEIN-A GENE-CLUSTER

Pulmonary surfactant consists of a complex mixture of phospholipids and several proteins essential to normal respiratory function. Two of the surfactant proteins, SP-A and SP-D, appear to have lectin-like activity relevant to the local phagocytic defense. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based somatic cell hybrid mapping, the human SP-D gene (SFTP4) was assigned to chromosome 10. A regional mapping panel was assembled and characterized using sequence tagged sites for five loci previously mapped to 10q. SFTP4, the SP-A gene (SFTP1), and the microsatellite D10S109 were placed in the interval 10q22-q23. Low-stringency PCR using the SFTP1 primer pair suggested the presence of at least two additional SP-A-related genes in the same region. With the locus for mannose-binding lectin (MBL) at 10q21, this may be indicative of this region's central role in the evolutionary history of carbohydrate-binding proteins containing collagen-like regions. © 1993 Academic Press. All rights reserved.