"Major minisatellite loci" detected by minisatellite clones 33.6 and 33.15 correspond to the cognate loci D1S111 and D7S437

G. Chimini et al. (1989, Genomics 5: 316-324) have recently reported that the two multilocus DNA fingerprinting probes 33.6 and 33.15 each detect a single major site in the human genome, at 1q23 and 7q35-q36, respectively, and speculate that these sites represent particularly large loci homologous to these probes. However, the human minisatellite loci cloned in 33.6 and 33.15 can themselves be assigned by somatic cell hybrid analysis to 1cen-q24 and 7q31.3-qter, respectively, corresponding to the "major loci" of Chimini et al. Furthermore, under their hybridization conditions, both 33.6 and 33.15 act largely as locus-specific minisatellite probes. The "major minisatellite loci" postulated by Chimini et al. do not therefore appear to represent major localized clusters of minisatellites in the human genome, but rather the loci cloned in 33.6 and 33.15.