Forty-eight primer-pairs complementary to unique DNA sequences flankin
g chicken (genus Gallus) genomic (TG)(n) microsatellite repeats were p
reviously designed. These primer-pairs were used in the polymerase cha
in reaction to amplify turkey (genus Meleagris) genomic DNA loci. Resu
lts indicated that the majority (92%) of these primer-pairs generated
amplification products in turkey genomic DNA. Hybridization using end-
labelled (TG)8 as a probe showed that, out of 41 primer-pairs tested,
only 14 generated an amplification product that also contained a detec
table (TG)(n) microsatellite repeat when turkey DNA was the template.
Among 18 primer-pairs tested for polymorphism, using three commercial
turkey lines, five were found to exhibit length polymorphism, three of
which did not contain a detectable TG(8) repeat. Therefore, a signifi
cant portion of chicken microsatellite markers can be useful for genom
ic mapping and linkage analysis in the turkey, reducing the costs invo
lved in producing turkey-specific microsatellite markers.