IS-2316-94C

Publications

Achievements

Mapping the Chicken Genome, Including Loci Affecting Traits of Economic Importance	Budget	Duration
	$300,000	3 years

	Soller, M.	Hebrew U
	Cheng, H.H.	USDA, ARS
	Crittenden, L.B.	USDA, ARS

Final Report Abstract
A total of 195 microsatellites were added to the chicken genome map. Mapping of fifty known genes revealed a high degree of conserved linkage order between human and chicken genomes. A new, statistically powerful mapping design, the full-sib intercross line (produced by mating two parents, and intercrossing their progeny over a number of generations), was developed for use in species with high reproductive capacity. The Jerusalem Resource Population (JRP), now at the F12 generation, was established to implement this design i chickens. The biometrical picutre in the JRP is similar to that generally found in chicken populations; inbreeding effects were not observed. The F2 and F3 generations of the JRP were genotyped with respect to twelve production traits, using a battery of 23 microsatellites markers. The number of significant effects was twice that expected on chance alone, validating the high statistical power of the JRP with respect to QTL differentiating the parental lines. Selective DNA pooling, based on estimation of marker allele frequencies in pooled DNA samples, has been proposed to reduce high genotyping costs of QTL mapping. A method to correct for overlapping shadow bands of dinucleotide microsatellite markers in pooled DNA samples was developed and validated. In a retrospective study using this procedure, previously mapped loci affecting Marek's disease were successfully identified.