A set of cattle microsatellite DNA markers for genome analysis of riverine buffalo (<i>Bubalus bubalis</i>)

Abstract

One hundred and eight microsatellite primer pairs, originally identified from cattle, were evaluated for their applicability in buffalo. Eighty-one primer pairs (75%) amplified discrete products, and of these, 61 pairs (56%) gave polymorphic band patterns on a panel of 25 buffaloes. The mean number of alleles per polymorphic marker was 4.50 +/- 0.20, and the mean heterozygosity per polymorphic marker was 0.66 +/- 0.02. Successful genotyping of buffaloes using cattle specific primers suggests that the latter can be a valuable resource for genome analysis in bubaline species.