A MALE LINKAGE MAP OF THE CATTLE (BOS-TAURUS) GENOME

A male linkage map of the cattle (Bos taurus) genome was constructed u sing nine large half-sib families, The map consists of 269 loci, of wh ich 249 are microsatellites and 20 are structural genes, Among the 249 microsatellites, 140 are markers selected from other maps and 98 are new assignments, Chromosome assignments were established for 35 new ma rkers by somatic cell hybrid analysis, of which 26 were confirmed by l inkage analysis, Genome coverage is 1975 cM contained within terminal markers on all 29 autosomes, The average distance between adjacent loc i is 9.7 cM, with 72.1% of the map intervals less than or equal to 15 cM and 4.9% of the intervals greater than or equal to 25 cM, The inclu sion of mapped markers permitted integration and comparisons with othe r maps, facilitating the identification of discrepancies in chromosome assignment, gene order, and map distance, The inclusion of Type I and blood group markers in the map was useful for comparative mapping, re vealing possible blood group orthologies between humans and cattle, Th e map generated will serve as a useful tool for comparative mapping, m apping of quantitative trait loci and marker assisted selection.