Chromosomal assignments of human type I and type II cytokeratin genes to different chromosomes

The chromosomal location of representative members of the type I and type II subfamilies of the cytokeratin multigene family was determined using specific cDNA probes in Southern blot hybridization with DNA from somatic cell hybrids. Our results show that the gene encoding human type II cytokeratin 4 resides on chromosome 12 and that encoding type I cytokeratin 15 is located on chromosome 17. The results indicate that cytokeratins are not concentrated in only one cluster. The possibility of the existence of separate type I and type II cytokeratin gene clusters is discussed.