INITIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF STS MARKERS IN THE LSXSS SERIES OF RECOMBINANT INBRED STRAINS

We are mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that influence ethanol-i nduced anesthesia (sleep time) in the Long-sleep (LS) and Short-sleep (SS) selected lines of mice. Fifty microsatellite-STS markers were ini tially screened for simple-sequence length polymorphisms between the L S and SS lines. Nineteen markers were polymorphic. Eleven markers uneq uivocally differentiated the LS and SS lines and were used to establis h strain distribution patterns for the LSXSS series of recombinant inb red strains. Five markers each accounted for at least 5% of sleep-time genetic variance among the RI strains. Linkage of provisional QTLs de tected among RIs will be confirmed or disproved in a large F2 populati on. This ongoing QTL-mapping project eventually will result in a strai n distribution pattern for the LSXSS RI series with an average marker spacing of 5 centimorgans.