Distribution and Characterization of Microsatellites in the Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) Genome

This study generates data concerning the genome of a flightless species of bird, the emu. We examined and ultimately rejected the following hypotheses: (1) Microsatellites are randomly distributed throughout the emu genome. (2) The relative order of abundance of dinucleotides will be constant across...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of heredity 2002-03, Vol.93 (2), p.100-106
Main Authors: Roots, E. H., Baker, R. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Birds
Birds - genetics
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
DNA Probes
Gene Library
Genome
Genomics
Microsatellite Repeats
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Summary:This study generates data concerning the genome of a flightless species of bird, the emu. We examined and ultimately rejected the following hypotheses: (1) Microsatellites are randomly distributed throughout the emu genome. (2) The relative order of abundance of dinucleotides will be constant across genomes. (3) Interspersion distances for a given dinucleotide will be equal across vertebrate genomes. (4) In all genomes, a dinucleotide will be more frequent than any trinucleotide. (5) The percentage of single-copy DNA will remain the same in emus as in other volant birds. A cosmid library representing 4.48% of the emu genome was probed with 23 microsatellites. Hybridizations were scored on a scale of 0–3. The average insert size, approximately 40 kb, was used to determine frequency and interspersion. The cosmid library was probed with genomic DNA to determine the percent single copy. Co-occurrence frequencies and confidence intervals were compared to expected using chi-squared. The genome is estimated to contain a microsatellite repeat every 48 kb. Of 1632 clones probed for single-copy DNA, 643 displayed maximal hybridization, 220 displayed moderate hybridization, and 202 had minimal hybridization. After 3 days, 567 showed no hybridization.
ISSN:0022-1503
1465-7333
DOI:10.1093/jhered/93.2.100