The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), Perkin-Elmer Corp. andtwo major research centers have entered into an agreement aimed acreating one of the first genomic maps to pinpoint precise positionsof genes within chromosomes.

The worldwide effort involves melding information from physicalmaps of the human genome developed by the France-based Centred'Etude du Polymorphisme Humain (CEPH) and the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology (CalTech) with gene sequencing datagenerated by TIGR.

The result, said Steve Lombardi, director of Perkin-Elmer's geneticanalysis unit, will be a map that locates genes and indicates where inthe body they are expressed.

In addition, said TIGR's director and founder Craig Venter, theinformation will be made available publicly via on-line computerdata bases to researchers around the world.

"This is the first time this has been done on such a large scale,"Venter told BioWorld. He said he hopes to have mapped the precisechromosome positions of 10,000 genes in the next year and expectsto have most of the genes in the genome mapped in the next severalyears.

Currently, he estimated, less than 6,000 genes "have been crudelymapped on the genome."

Lombardi said the merger of gene sequencing data, which identifiesspecific genes, and information on genome maps, which providelandmarks for approximating gene locations, is made possible withnew technology developed by Perkin-Elmer.

In 1992, Perkin-Elmer, of Norwalk, Conn., acquired AppliedBiosystems Inc., of Foster City, Calif. Applied Biosystemsdeveloped the DNA sequencing machines that are used by Venterand others involved in gene sequencing research.

Lombardi said Perkin-Elmer now has devised an automatedfluorescent polymerase chain reaction system that will enableVenter's group to generate the data needed for CEPH and CalTechresearchers to locate the genes on their physical maps. CEPH was thefirst to generate a physical map of the human genome in 1993.

The Perkin-Elmer technology, Venter said, will greatly speed up thedetailed mapping process.

"What this accomplishes," Lombardi said, "is an acceleration ofgenetic disease discovery." With a map of genes, researchers canbetter identify mutations and target therapeutics to correct thedefects. The process of identifying genes on chromosomes nowinvolves considerable trial and error.

"This should really move science forward," Venter said,emphasizing that the mapping information will be public.

He said the collaboration with Perkin-Elmer is independent ofTIGR's work with Human Genome Sciences Inc., of Rockville, Md.,and SmithKline Beecham Corp., of Philadelphia, Pa.

TIGR, Human Genomes Sciences and SmithKline Beecham areinvolved in a $125 million collaboration giving SmithKline right offirst refusal to develop potential drugs from gene sequencing datadeveloped by TIGR and Human Genome Sciences.

Venter said the collaboration with Perkin-Elmer initially will focuson mapping genes from among the tens of thousands of partial genesequences existing in public data bases, such as the NationalInstitutes of Health's GenBank, run by the National Center forBiotechnology Information in Bethesda, Md.

Lombardi said Perkin-Elmer is using the project to demonstrate itstechnology. Financial terms of the agreement between Perkin-Elmerand TIGR were not disclosed.n

-- Charles Craig

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.