Sheep CENPB and CENPC genes show a high level of sequence similarity and conserved synteny with their human homologs

Sheep CENPB and CENPC clones were isolated from a lung cDNA library. The DNA and predicted amino acid sequences of these clones were compared with their human and mouse homologs and shown to contain a high degree of sequence similarity. Sheep chromosomal assignments were made using a sheep x hamster somatic cell hybrid mini-panel. CENPB was assigned to sheep chromosome 13 and CENPC to chromosome 6. The previously reported assignments of CENPB and CENPC to human chromosomes 20 and 4, respectively, suggest conserved synteny between sheep chromosome 13 and human chromosome 20 and support conserved synteny between sheep chromosome 6 and human chromosome 4.