MINISATELLITE DNA MARKERS IN THE CHICKEN GENOME .1. DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF MINISATELLITES IN MULTILOCUS DNA FINGERPRINTS

This paper reports the detailed characterization of multilocus minisat ellite DNA fingerprints in the chicken. Results are presented of DNA f ingerprint segregation analyses carried out in three chicken pedigrees , calculating the number of detected loci, testing for Mendelian inher itance, and cosegregation among fingerprint bands. Two pedigrees (fami lies 1 and 2) were analysed using the Jeffreys probes 33.6 and 33.15 o nly, and one pedigree (family 3) was analysed using 33.6, 33.15, 3' al pha-globin HVR and M13 protein III gene repeat. Mean band transmission frequencies in families 1 and 2 were near to the Mendelian expectatio n of 0.5 and no mutations were observed. Family 3 showed transmission frequencies slightly exceeding 0.5. Linkage among bands was higher tha n observed in some other avian species, with each allele represented b y a mean of 1.48 HaeIII. fragments. Cosegregation of heterozygous pare ntal fragments representing distinguishable loci followed the expected binomial distribution. The number of minisatellites detectable by the four probes was estimated to be 217. The pattern of cosegregation amo ng those minisatellite loci was tested against that expected for diffe rent levels of recombination through the use of a simulation model. We conclude that most minisatellites are unlinked and probably widely di spersed in the chicken genome.