Representing approximately 6% of the human genome, chromosome 4 contains nearly 900 genes. Notably, the Huntingtin gene, which is found to encode an expanded glutamine tract in cases of Huntingtons disease, is on chromosome 4. FGFR-3 is also encoded on chromosome 4 and has been associated with thanatophoric dwarfism, achondroplasia, Muenke syndrome and bladder cancer. Chromosome 4 is also tied to Ellis-van Creveld syndrome, methylmalonic acidemia and polycystic kidney disease. Chromosome 4 reportedly contains the largest gene deserts (regions of the genome with no protein encoding genes) and has one of the two lowest recombination frequencies of the human chromosomes. The CWH43 gene product has been provisionally designated CWH43 pending further characterization.
