Panel of microsatellite markers for whole-genome scans and radiation hybrid mapping and a mouse family tree

To facilitate whole-genome scan experiments, we selected a panel of 128 mic rosatellite markers on the basis of spacing and polymorphism in the strains DBA/2, BALB/c, AKR, C57BL/6, C57BL/10, All, C3H, 129/J, SJL/J, JFI, and PW B. Many of the primer pairs were redesigned for better performance. The las t four strains were not characterized previously using these markers. JFI a nd PWB are particularly interesting for intersubspecific crosses offering h igh polymorphism. We provide allele size data for the markers on these stra ins and add them to the emerging radiation hybrid Framework map, which is n ot continuous except for chromosome 17 and 13. Information on the interrela tionships of strains is useful both because of the importance of polymorphi sm in designing crosses and the background in assessing phenotypes. Microsa tellites offer a widely dispersed, selectively neutral set of characters th at lends itself conceptually to parsimony methods of analysis. The microsat ellite allele size data were recoded as binary discrete characters in such a way that adjacent sizes differ by one step. Trees were generated using a Wagner parsimony method. As expected, the non-Mus domesticus strains, PWB ( musculus) and JFI (molossinus), are excluded from the domesticus strains. A mong the domesticus strains, C57BL/6 and C57BL/10 (derived from the same fo unding pair) form a strongly supported group, as do C3H, All, and BALB/c (d erived from the Bagg albino stock). No unique branching order for SJL/J, AK R, and DBA/2 is strongly supported, which may reflect a complicated history . Strain 129/J is clearly placed as the most deeply diverged of the domesti cus strains represented.