Highly polymorphic microsatellite markers in poultry

Microsatellite markers have been established for a large number of species, but up till now very few polymorphic microsatellite markers have been reported in poultry. We have isolated 34 polymorphic chicken microsatellite markers of the poly(TG) type. The number of repeats varied from 9 up to 33. Often, other repeats such as poly(T) or poly (GAA) were present adjacent to the poly (TG) repeat. Polymerase chain reaction amplification of the microsatellites resulted in detection of three or more alleles in a test panel of five different animals for 75% of the microsatellites. Segregation of five microsatellite markers has been tested in a small family.