Deletions of the short arm of chromosome 9 have been observed in a number of malignant cell lines and primary tumor samples using cytogenetic and molecular techniques. These tumors include acute lymphoblastic leukemias, lymphomas, gliomas, melanomas, mesotheliomas, bladder cancer, and lung cancer. The smallest region of overlap (SRO) of these deletions is thought to contain a tumor suppressor gene. A microdissection library was constructed from bands 9p21-p23 to obtain DNA probes that would be useful in further defining the limits of the deletions. Eight single-copy probes were found to be homozygously deleted in at least 1 of the 10 cell lines examined. The mapping of these 8 clones using a panel of cell lines with deletions revealed that 3 probes mapped telomeric to the SRO and 5 clones mapped centromeric to the SRO.