A familial early onset breast cancer gene (BRCA1) has been localized to chromosome 17q21. To aid in the identification of this gene a number of new microsatellite markers from the D17S857 to D17S78 region were isolated and characterized. These markers, along with previously published markers from the region, were localized on a physical map by STS content mapping of cosmids from the BRCA1 interval. This high-density STS map of the BRCA1 region will be useful for linkage studies of families with apparent inherited breast cancer and for loss of heterozygosity analysis of breast tumor DNAs.