A review on SNP and other types of molecular markers and their use in animal genetics.
During the last ten years, the use of molecular markers, revealing polymorphism at the DNA level, has been playing an increasing part in animal genetics studies. Amongst others, the microsatellite DNA marker has been the most widely used, due to its easy use by simple PCR, followed by a denaturing gel electrophoresis for allele size determination, and to the high degree of information provided by its large number of alleles per locus. Despite this, a new marker type, named SNP, for Single Nucleotide Polymorphism, is now on the scene and has gained high popularity, even though it is only a bi-allelic type of marker. In this review, we will discuss the reasons for this apparent step backwards, and the pertinence of the use of SNPs in animal genetics, in comparison with other marker types.
Vignal
Alain
A
Laboratoire de génétique cellulaire, Inra, chemin de Borde-Rouge, Auzeville BP 27, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan cedex, France. vignal@toulouse.inra.fr
Milan
Denis
D
SanCristobal
Magali
M
Eggen
André
A
D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D001699:Biometry; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005819:Genetic Markers; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D005828:Genetics, Population; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D008967:Molecular Biology; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable
D005819:Genetic Markers; D004247:DNA