THE BOVINE GENOME CONTAINS POLYMORPHIC MICROSATELLITES

Dinucleotide repeats constitute so-called microsatellites of the human and other eukaryotic genomes. Microsatellite polymorphisms can be identified through the amplification of the microsatellite DNA using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), followed by resolution of the amplified DNA fragments on a polyacrylamide sequencing gel. We performed a preliminary sequence database search to identify bovine sequences containing (CA)n, (AC)n, (GT)n, or (TG)n blocks, with n ≥ 6. This search yielded 10 sequences containing one or two of the specified repeat blocks and often additional dinucleotide repeat blocks. One of the microsatellite-containing regions has been sequenced twice from independent clones and the reported sequences showed variation in the number of repeats. PCR-amplified fragments of another sequence, the gene for steroid 21-hydroxylase, ranged from 186 to 216 nucleotides in 43 unrelated animals. The database search, as well as the hypervariable microsatellite in the bovine steroid 21-hydroxylase gene, indicates that dinucleotide blocks may be an abundant source of DNA polymorphism in cattle. © 1990.