We have used a half-YAC containing the human chromosome 21 long-arm telomere to clone, map, and characterize a new dinucleotide repeat polymorphism (D21S1575) close to 21qter. This marker is < 120 kb from the telomeric (TTAGGG)n sequences and is the most distal highly polymorphic marker on chromosome 21q. This marker has a heterozygosity of 71% because of a variable (TA)n repeat embedded within a long interspersed element (LINE) element. Genotyping of the CEPH families and linkage analysis provided a more accurate determination of the full length of the chromosome 21 genetic map. A highly significant difference was detected between male and female recombination rates in the telomeric region: in the most telomeric 2.3 Mb of chromosome 21q, recombination was only observed in male meioses.