Nucleic Acids Research, 1988, Vol. 16, No. 7 2885-2896
© 1988
Articles |
Expression of chromosome 21 specific sequences in normal and Down's syndrome tissues
Department of Biology (NICGENE)The Queen's University of Belfast 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL 1Department of Medical Genetics, The Queen's University of Belfast 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL 2The Duncan Guthrie Institute of Medical Genetics, Yorkhill Hospital Glasgow G3 8SJ 3Cambridge University Department of Pathology Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QP, UK
Received December 8, 1987. Revised February 27, 1988. Accepted March 3, 1988.
Using RNA isolated from age and sex matched normal and Down's Syndrome foetal liver and brain tissues, Northern blots were prepared and probed with 4 chromosome 21 specific sequences. The results show that no consistent pattern of expression emerges when Down's Syndrome tissue is compared with normal tissue but the results are very different from the 3/2 ratio of expression which may be expected. Two sequences 21.3 and 26C show only minor differences in expression in trisomy 21 liver samples but significant changes in their expression pattern when normal and Down's Syndrome brain samples are compared. The other sequences, JG77 and JG90 show a 5 fold higher degree of expression in Down's brain but when liver samples are compared one of these sequences shows equal levels of expression in normal and Down's Syndrome samples and the other shows a decrease in expression level in Down's Syndrome samples.