Technical Abstract: Primers were developed from expressed sequence tags (ESTs)
obtained from bovine mammary gland, small intestine, brain and
pituitary cDNA libraries. The EST database was screened for the
presence of microsatellites using a search algorithm to identify
dinucleotide or trinucleotide repeat units, and flanking primers
were designed to amplify across these repeats in 150-200 bp
amplicons. Genotypes were collected by incorporation of
radionucleotides during PCR and sizing of alleles on
polyacrylamide gels. Two-point linkage analysis was performed
with the genotypes of the MARC population, using CRI-MAP. The
number of informative meioses, and maximum LOD score for two-
point analysis with markers in the indicated linkage groups are
given in Table 2. Multipoint analysis positioned each marker
within its linkage group. The bovine chromosome and position,
measured in cM from the most centromeric marker in the linkage
group, are shown in Table 2. Five of the EST sequences reported
here were obtained from the 5' end of the transcript; however,
none of the sequences showed significant (score > 300) similarity
to known genes in the GenBank database via BLAST analysis. These
microsatellites therefore represent markers for genes expressed
in various bovine tissues, although the nature and function of
the loci are not currently known.