Long-range mapping of the normal BCR gene.

Pulsed field gel electrophoresis was used to construct a long-range map of the normal BCR gene. A single BssHII restriction fragment encompasses all the known exons of the BCR gene (except a small 5' part of exon one). MIuI has one restriction site within the first intron of the BCR gene and another 250 kb downstream. This MIuI fragment contains most of the BCR gene coding sequences apart from the first exon and contains more sequences downstream of the BCR gene than the BssHII fragment. The NarI restriction sites are very close to the BssHII sites in the BCR gene, but they differ in the ABL gene, so that NarI digests could theoretically provide additional information in chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) patients. This map was used to confirm BCR gene involvement in two CML patients in whom results of conventional Southern blotting of DNA were ambiguous. It was also used in a third patient to demonstrate the presence of a breakpoint apparently outside the BCR gene. Preliminary evidence from the use of PFGE confirms the presence of three BCR-related genes homologous to 3' sequences in the classical BCR gene (BCR-1). These BCR-related genes are located at a considerable distance from BCR-1.