USE OF CHICKEN MICROSATELLITE MARKERS IN TURKEY - A PESSIMISTIC VIEW

Eighty-eight chicken microsatellite markers, previously developed in o ur laboratory, were tested for their ability to amplify polymorphic fr agments using turkey genomic DNA. Amplification products were obtained for 61 chicken microsatellite markers (69.1%) whereas 27 (30.9%) did not give rise to any products, even when different polymerase chain re action conditions were employed. From the 61 markers that gave a produ ct, only eight showed a length polymorphism while 37 were monomorphic on the three divergent commercial turkey lines used. The remaining 16 markers yielded many unspecific bands and no specific amplification pr oduct could be obtained. Five polymorphic and eleven monomorphic produ cts contained a detectable microsatellite repeat. Furthermore, of the markers that detected a polymorphism in turkey, the observed heterozyg osity (15-50%) and allelic variation (only 2 in most cases) was very l ow. Therefore, on the basis of our results, we think that chicken micr osatellite markers are not very useful for mapping purposes in turkey.