In human breast carcinomas, increased copy number of DNA sequences derived from the long arm of chromosome 20 (20q) has been commonly observed by both chromosome microdissection and comparative genomic hybridization. This chromosomal region is likely to contain one or more genes that are the biological targets of this amplification event. We describe here the utilization of a chromosome microdissection-hybrid selection strategy to isolate transcribed sequences from microdissected homogeneously staining regions encompassing 20q. Using this strategy, we have isolated three novel amplified genes (termed AIB1, AIB3, and AIB4) from a cDNA library constructed from the 20q amplified breast cancer cell line BT-474. These three genes were mapped to 20q11 (AIB3 and AIB4) and 20q12 (AIB1) by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Our results indicate an unsuspected complexity to the amplification pattern of 20q in breast cancer and provide probes that will be useful for further characterization of tumor specimens.