title: The diagnosis of freemartinism in cattle using sex-specific DNA sequences.
abstract: The majority of heifers born co-twins to bulls are infertile freemartins. It is important that the condition be diagnosed at an early age as freemartins have no potential for use as replacement stock. A rapid, robust, reliable technique for freemartin diagnosis is described. Three Y-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primer pairs: BOV97M, BRY.1 and AMX/Y were used to detect male cells in the blood of heifers born co-twins to bulls. PCR -based tests have advantages over currently used methods of freemartin diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin, 4, Ireland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ennis
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vaughan
authors.forename: T F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Gallagher
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002417:Cattle; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D005611:Freemartinism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data
chemical_list: D004247:DNA