The use of dinucleotide repeats or microsatellites as genetic markers in domestic animals

A.M. Crawford, F.C. Buchanan, P.A. Swarbrick

MAF Technology Molecular Biology Unit, Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago, Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production. 1991, 51: 79-84

This paper describes five genetic markers from the sheep genome. The polymorphic nature of these new markers, called microsatellites, is due to differences in the number of dinucleotide repeats at each locus. The advantages of these markers compared with other DNA markers are the speed and ease with which individuals can be analysed and the highly polymorphic nature of the loci. The five loci described in this paper had between 4 and 19 loci at each locus, with PIC values ranging from 0.41 to 0.90. It is likely that microsatellites will provide the next generation of parentage test for domestic animals as they are cheaper to perform and simpler to analyse than DNA fingerprints.

Keywords: NZSAPAB; Genetic marker; sheep; microsatellites; DNA marker; parentage testing; pedigree auditing

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Last Updated 25-01-1997