SEQUENCE CONSERVATION OF MICROSATELLITES BETWEEN BOS-TAURUS (CATTLE),CAPRA-HIRCUS (GOAT) AND RELATED SPECIES - EXAMPLES OF USE IN PARENTAGE TESTING AND PHYLOGENY ANALYSIS

A panel of 70 bovine microsatellites was tested for amplification from goat DNA. Forty-three could be successfully amplified by PCR, 20 of w hich were tested for polymorphism. Three were applied for parentage te sting in goat families and their exclusion probability evaluated. Four teen were cloned and sequenced from goat DNA, and goat and bovine sequ ences were compared to evaluate interspecific conservation. Correlatio n between the structure of the dinucleotide repeat and the number of a lleles was studied and indicated that interruption(s) in the repeat co uld explain the difference in the levels of polymorphism between the t wo species. This study provides a valuable in vivo clue to the mechani sm generating polymorphism in microsatellites. Sequence conservation w as also observed for several microsatellites with two wild species of Bovidae, Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) and Himalayan Tur (Capra cyl indricornis), and with one species of Cervidae, the fallow deer (Cervu s dama). This study showed that an estimated 40 per cent of the micros atellites isolated from cattle will prove useful to study the caprine genome and to characterize economically important genetic loci in this species. Moreover, bovine microsatellites were shown to constitute ve ry useful tools for the study pf genetic diversity of the Artiodactyla .