Assignment of the human GABAA receptor delta-subunit gene (GABRD) to chromosome band 1p36.3 distal to marker NIB1364 by radiation hybrid mapping.

The gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA; Kuriyama et al., 1993) receptor represents a mechanism integral in functioning of the central nervous system and a locus for the action of many moodand emotion-altering agents such as benzodiazepines, barbiturates, steroids, and alcohol. Anxiety syndromes, sleep disorders, and convulsive disorders have been treated with therapeutic agents that enhance the action of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) at the GABAA receptor or increase the concentration of GABA in nervous tissue (Rabow et al., 1995). GABAA receptors are heterooligomeric ligandgated ion channels that mediate the effect of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA which represents the main means of synaptic inhibition in neuronal tissue. The GABAA receptors consist of at least 15 different receptor subunits that can be classified into five subfamilies (alpha, beta, gamma, delta, rho). Sommer et al. isolated and characterized the murine gene for the GABAA receptor delta subunit (GABRD) by high-resolution mapping and DNA sequencing and they localized the human delta subunit gene to the short arm of chromosome 1. Materials and methods