A search for sequence similarity between chicken (Gallus domesticus) and ostrich (Struthio camelus) microsatellite markers

Abstract

Although the ostrich (Struthio camelus) has been farmed for many years for skins, eggs, meat and feathers, very little is known about the genetic structure of this species. The suitability of 29 chicken microsatellite markers was evaluated as potential genetic linkage markers in the ostrich. No sequence homology was stated (0.00% similarity) between any of the 29 chicken microsatellites and the genome of the ostrich. This leads to the conclusion that the former are not suitable for genome mapping of the latter. In light of this, more work should especially be done to widen our knowledge of ostrich specific markers.