Microsatellite polymorphism between and within broiler populations

Two independent broiler chicken populations were genotyped with microsatell ite markers to determine genetic polymorphisms within and among broiler pop ulations. Birds were genotyped with primers from the US Poultry Genome Mapp ing Kits 1 and 2. The 59 primer sets selected for this study provided wide genomic, coverage. All 59 primer sets amplified a polymerase chain reaction product in Population L, whereas 57 primer sets produced a product in Popu lation C. The average allele number per line per microsatellite was 2.8 and 2.9 for Populations L and C, respectively. Considering the 57 primer pairs generating product in both lines, 72.3% of the total alleles were unique t o one or the other population. This study illustrates the high polymorphism level in broiler populations of microsatellites amplified from primers dev eloped from Red Jungle Fowl or White Leghorn sequences.