Advanced Integrated Mouse YAC Map Including BAC Framework

<jats:p>Functional characterization of the mouse genome requires the availability of a comprehensive physical map to obtain molecular access to chromosomal regions of interest. Positional cloning remains a crucial way of linking phenotype with particular genes. A key step and frequent stumbling block in positional cloning is making a contig of a genetically defined candidate region. The most efficient first step is isolating YAC (Yeast Artificial Chromosome) clones. A robust, detailed YAC contig map is thus an important tool. Employing Interspersed Repetitive Sequence (IRS)-PCR genomics, we have generated an advanced second-generation YAC contig map of the mouse genome that doubles both the depth of clones and the density of markers available. In addition to the primarily YAC-based map, we located 1942 BAC (Bacterial Artificial Chromosome) clones. This allows us to present for the first time a dense framework of BACs spanning the genome of the mouse, which, for instance, can serve as a nucleus for genomic sequencing. Four large-insert mouse YAC libraries from three different strains are included in our data, and our analysis incorporates the data of Hunter et al. and Nusbaum et al. There is a total of 20,205 markers on the final map, 12,033 from our own data, and a total of 56,093 YACs, of which 44,401 are positive for more than one marker.</jats:p><jats:p>[The sequence data described in this paper have been submitted to the GenBank data library under accession nos. <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="BH174059" ext-link-type="gen" xlink:type="simple">BH174059</jats:ext-link>–<jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="BH175013" ext-link-type="gen" xlink:type="simple">BH175013</jats:ext-link>.]</jats:p>