We isolated expressed sequence tags (ESTs) on the long arm of chromosome 21. The ESTs were mapped by PCR using a monochromosomal somatic-cell mapping panel. Of a total of 55 cDNAs, 30 mapped back uniquely to chromosome 21, 7 mapped back to other chromosomes including chromosome 21, 8 mapped back to chromosomes other than 21, and 10 could not be assigned using this methodology. The 30 chromosome 21-specific markers so isolated represent useful EST markers. A rapid PCR-based method was used to delineate the expression pattern of these 30 pairs in different tissues.